I didn't think the year could get any better, but it did. Still flying on that Force Awakens high, I could not let the chance to see the roadshow release of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight pass me by - and neither should you. This may well be the single greatest act by a filmmaker to restore the experience of moviegoing to what it used to be, in the last forty years.
As you've probably heard, Tarantino shot Hateful Eight on film, in 70mm Ultra Panavision, the widest film format there is (2.76:1), and which hasn't been used since the late sixties. It might seem a strange choice to use a format designed to capture the most epic of sweeping vistas to shoot a slow-burning thriller, most of which takes place in a single, dimly lit room. Au contraire. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the real McCoy. I loved this movie to death, and I can't recommend it enough.
Now I'm lucky enough to live in a town that worships movies, and we have a spectacular venue that knows 70mm - The Hollywood. If you're a film fan - meaning celluloid - and you swoon at the grandeur of the widescreen image, do whatever you have to do, but see this movie in its roadshow incarnation while you can. Blu-ray just ain't gonna do it justice. It'll be awesome, but you want to see this film the first time this way - as an experience. You will never forget it.
In my opinion, this is Quentin Tarantino at his absolute best. It's a Western for people who love Westerns, and for people who don't. It's also one hell of a mystery, because very little is as it appears. Which makes discussing it difficult without blowing the airlock, so no spoilers whatsoever will be found here.
The cast here is one of the most dynamic and hypnotic to be found. Kurt Russell is on some kind of high-test Western resurgence, having just given us Bone Tomahawk, now he's back in another iconic frontier role, as bounty hunter John "The Hangman" Ruth. Most bounty hunters deliver their quarry as corpses - it's a lot easier. Not Ruth. He likes to see 'em hang for what they did. You know how some guys start to lose their voice as they get older? Not Kurt Russell. The timbre on this guy is out of control. Ruth is a loud, arrogant, self righteous punisher who takes no chances and trusts nobody. Put simply, this is one of Russell's best roles. He's fantastic here, as a man desperate to make sure nobody denies him the $10,000 bounty his captive will fetch. His voice and intensity are humbling. Kurt Russell still has it, and then some.
Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is the bounty, a woman with more than one screw loose, who Leigh plays to hysterical, teeth-rotting perfection as some kind of violent, white trash Ophelia. She's phenomenal here.
But Samuel L. Jackson owns this picture. You can't really talk about The Hateful Eight without talking about race. The Civil War is over, and Tarantino deftly uses the unconcealed loathing between survivors of the Confederacy and men like Jackson's Major Marquis Warren, to hold up a mirror to the polarized racial strife of America today. Tarantino puts the N-word brutally front and center, making it clear that some factions have no intention of abandoning its use. As a former Union soldier, now also turned bounty hunter, Major Warren is a man with a past, and a knack for survival. When a fierce Wyoming blizzard throws these wild cards together in the remote sanctuary of Minnie's Haberdashery along with an aging former Confederate General (Bruce Dern) and a loyal son of the South (the amazing Walton Goggins), the pot starts simmering immediately. When it starts to boil over, everyone's going to get burned. Badly.
Now everyone in this cast is simply awesome, but Goggins deserves a medal. He's been solid gold on Justified for years, but he does way more than just hold his own with Jackson, Leigh and the others. He's white lightning, and he ascends to some amazing heights. Nominate this guy, please.
The roadshow release is truly a spectacle to behold. It was an incredibly shrewd move to shoot in 70mm, as the feel of the environment is jaw-dropping in the opening scenes. But I'd argue that the massive screen and immersive detail works even better once we get cooped up in Minnie's. The widescreen becomes a battlefield, and Tarantino DP favorite Robert Richardson might want to clear some shelf space for another Oscar. The format works incredibly well to make the emotional immediacy come alive, with antagonists often glaring across the auditorium at each other from opposite sides of the gigantic frame. It brings the depth of field alive in a large, dark, shadowy room that would be impossible in any other format. The Hateful Eight is Theatrical in every sense of the word. It often feels like a stage play, and Tarantino encourages his stellar cast to go big, or go home. It all works incredibly well. I'll tell you this, it never feels long, not for a second. It's over three hours long, and the tension takes its time, but it just hurtled by for me. Even with the Overture and a 12-minute Intermission, there wasn't a wasted or indulgent second - it was a Swiss watch, and a Swiss watch that ticked really fricking fast. I felt deliriously, luridly, hysterically entertained for every second. What may surprise is for how violent and offensive this picture may seem to people, it's also extremely funny. Often.
Tarantino, amazing cast, historic cinematography, but trust me when I say that Ennio Morricone's score is sizzling butter on hot cast iron. Morricone wrote original music for The Hateful Eight but couldn't contribute the entire score. So in a phenomenal bit of repurposing, they used previously unreleased sections of his score from John Carptenter's The Thing - serendipitous, given that Tarantino cites The Thing as being one of Hateful's biggest influences. It's easy to see why. Eight strangers cooped up in a murderous polar environment full of secrets who can't trust each other. The cumulative score is amazing, and as that Overture played, the chills were palpable. An Overture is supposed to set the stage, and Morricone's score does a spectacular, unnerving job.
If you love Tarantino, I shouldn't have to sell you hard. But The Hateful Eight is cinema - plain and simple. Right up there with Mad Max: Fury Road. It's absolutely one of the best pictures of the year and a triumph for Quentin Tarantino and fans of film exhibition everywhere. You are doing yourself the biggest disservice imaginable if you miss seeing this in the theater while there's still a chance.
LOCALS: The Hateful Eight has been held over at the Hollywood, but you want to get your tickets while you can - in advance. Every showtime is selling out, so do yourself a favor and plan for this one in advance. That ought to tell you something. You miss this at your own peril. At the dawn of a New Year, I am grateful for Hateful.
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