Tarantino is back

By Branson Strasner

“The Hateful Eight” is the aptly named eighth film by writer and director Quentin Tarantino.

With a star-studded cast including Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hateful Eight sets itself up as a classic western film with a whodunit twist.

One of the most noticeable things about the film is how it shifts tone near the halfway point of the story.

It begins as a standard western, then it becomes exactly what Tarantino fans love: raunchy, violent, and full of twists.

The film is three hours long, which is above average compared to other recent releases, but it never really drags.

Nearly three quarters of the movie is set inside the same small building, but the cinematography prevents the location from getting stale.

Every actor delivers an amazing performance, even if it’s a character that isn’t very likable, which is even more impressive considering nearly all of the eight main characters in the movie are unlikeable people, hence the name of the film.

When an actor can portray a despicable character like that and still make the audience interested in them, that is amazing.

Of all the actors, Walton Goggins was by far the most impressive.

His character is a racist, idiotic man claiming to be the sheriff of a nearby town.

Despite all the cliches the character falls under, Goggins makes him real.

The most beautiful aspect of this film is the score, by legendary composer Ennio Morricone, known for his unique, quirky work on “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” “Once Upon a Time in the West,” and “Kill Bill Vol. 1.” Morricone’s music manages to perfectly fit nearly every scene in the film, whether it is suspenseful, action packed, or somber.

Despite all this, “The Hateful Eight” still has its flaws.

Quentin Tarantino is known for his use of violence and gore, but even as a fan of his other films, I feel it was overdone in this film.

For most of this movie, the violence is depicted relatively realistically, but after the tone shift mentioned above, Tarantino just goes all out.

A bullet wound spills what seems like gallons of blood, and another character vomits blood all over someone else.

Hateful Eight is absolutely not a movie for everyone.

But if you enjoyed Tarantino’s other films, such as “Pulp Fiction,” “Django Unchained,” or “Reservoir Dogs,” you’ll probably enjoy this rip-roaring film.

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