You’ve got to hand it Quentin Tarantino. He always knows exactly what he is doing. His latest – the Western mission movie-cum-locked room mystery The Hateful Eight – starts off about as deliberately paced as possible. Sure, the tension needs to be built up for the enmity promised in the title to be worth watching, but does it have to take an hour and a half? While that setup could be more economical, it makes damn sure that the cabin this mix of bounty hunters, criminals, and mystery men find themselves trapped in is a lit powder keg. A mix of flashbacks and narration threatens to explain too much, but that is acceptable when withholding information as confidently as The Hateful Eight does. Is the whole thing indulgent, excessive, and distasteful? Sure, but the master of the prestige B-movie proves once again that such a bloody stew can still make for quality cinema.
Jeff Malone is a voracious entertainment consumer and entertainment creator. He currently resides in New York City, where he received his Master’s in Media Studies at The New School. In addition to his pieces on TMRzoo.com and StarPulse.com, you can check out his blog (jmunney.wordpress.com), where he provides regular coverage of Community and Saturday Night Live, as well as other television, film, music, and the rest of pop culture.
