Quentin Tarantino is back with his latest film The Hateful Eight and in true Tarantino fashion, he had to do it in his own unique way. The 8th film from Tarantino, The Hateful Eight was filmed in Ultra Panavision 70, which captures the largest aspect ratio in film and has a wider and more detailed image. However, this type of film has been dormant for many years as digital filming has been the norm. The last films to use this type of technology were Ben-Hur and Battle of the Bulge era type movies. And that's not the only thing Tarantino is blowing the dust off of. Tarantino enlisted Academy Award winning composer Ennio Morricone, who is responsible for the music behind classic western movies like Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The Hateful Eight marks the return for Morricone after 40 years of not composing a Western movie.
I bring all this up because this movie oozes Tarantino, and for me that's a good thing. The story has the feel of Clue but in a western movie written by Tarantino. Kurt Russell plays John "The Hangman" Ruth, a bounty hunter returning to the town of Red Rock intending to cash in on the $10,000 bounty placed on his prisoner Daisy Domergue, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. Domergue is wanted for murder and after Ruth captures her he encounters Major Marquis Warren, a former union soldier with a mysterious and controversial past played by Tarantino usual Samuel L. Jackson. Warren needs a ride back to town so he can retrieve the bounty for three men he has killed. Almost minutes after picking up Warren the group encounters Chris Mannix, the supposed new sheriff of Red Rock and former patriot of the confederacy, played by Walton Goggins. From there the group is caught in a blizzard and forced to take shelter in Minnie's Haberdashery. It is there we meet four more characters: Bob, a Mexican help played by Demian Bichir, Oswaldo Mobray, the supposed hangman of Red Rock played by Tarantino alumnus Tim Roth, Joe Gage, a cow puncher played by Tarantino alumnus Michael Madsen, and Sandy Smithers, a Confederate General played by Bruce Dern. Ruth has a suspicion that someone in the haberdashery is working with Daisy and plans on killing Ruth and everyone else in order to see that Daisy goes free.
From there, tensions build and secrets are revealed all in classic Tarantino fashion. Now, there are two ways to see the film. One is to see the regular release of the film on digital and the other is to see the Roadshow version, where you get the 70mm version of the movie and is the one I saw. The Roadshow is one of the most unique things in recent movie going experience next to IMAX. It follows the style of the old Roadshow movies back in the days. You get a program there is an intermission in between acts and an overture to start the movie. Tarantino has been vocal in saying that the best way to see the movie is to see it in 70mm and I have to agree with the man. The intermission in the middle is much needed as the ending to the first act leaves you wondering what will happen next. The movie is filled with sharp Tarantino dialogue and his unique form of violence. Seriously, this movie gets bloody towards the end. It's a hard R for sure as (SPOILER ALERT!) Warren marches one of his enemies out in the snow fully naked. It's not something to watch with the folks.
But how does it compare to Tarantino's last Western Django Unchained? Hateful Eight and Django tell vastly different stories for westerns so it all comes down to which story you prefer. Do you prefer a story where eight interesting characters are stuck in one location and must figure out who is not who they say they are or will you prefer the story about a former slave getting revenge on the white men that have his wife. Reading the premises I would have to say Django has the biggest draw for casual viewers in term of an interesting premise but Hateful Eight has good drama and tension, especially in its second act that makes it stand out.
I have yet to be disappointed by a Tarantino film and Hateful Eight reminds me why. Tarantino has this way of making the smallest conversations interesting and giving us interesting interpretations of old school movies. As a Tarantino fan, I like the movie but for every movie there are critics. If you are opposed to Tarantino's style of violence I would leave the theater when the second act starts as that is when everything hits the fan. Also if you are one of those foolish parents that believe that taking their child to an R rated movie is something a "responsible" parent would do I am going to remind you that there is a scene where you can clearly see a fully exposed man and Samuel L. Jackson's character describes the horrible thing he makes that man do before he kills him. This is not a movie to see with mom and dad but rather friends or other Tarantino fans. For me I enjoyed this movie and all of its 70mm glory. If you plan on seeing the movie, the Roadshow is the way to go as you're seeing the way Tarantino wants it to be seen but if you can't give it a look if you like his work.
Grade: A
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