The Hateful Eight (2015)

*** out of ****

When I walked out of my first viewing of “Titanic” in 1997 I thought there was something wrong with my watch. It seemed impossible that I had been in that theatre for 3 and a half hours. But I had been so completely entranced by the film that this was indeed the length of time that had sped by. “The Hateful Eight” was similar – upon getting in the car I saw I had been in there for 3 hours, though it didn't seem nearly as long.

In my rating I give it 3 stars. It would have been three and a half, the story is that absorbing and the performances and dialogue are first rate, but there were a few things about it that cost it getting that extra rating. Tarantino is well known for dancing right up to the line of acceptability in graphic violence, gore and situations, but this is the time I felt he finally went too far. One scene in particular went beyond the boundaries of simple bad taste into the realm of the worst type of exploitation. More on that later, and happily it only lasted a couple of minutes.

Because there is a TREMENDOUS amount of greatness in this film. The year is undefined but is clearly shortly after the end of the Civil War. Kurt Russell is John “the Hangman” Ruth, a bounty hunter transporting bloodthirsty outlaw Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to justice via stagecoach. They are barely in front of an oncoming blizzard, so when they come upon two stranded men on the road (Samuel L. Jackson and Walter Goggins) they agree to let them ride along to save their lives. Eventually they arrive at “Minnie's Haberdashery”, a sort of inn in the middle of nowhere, where they plan to ride out the blizzard before moving onto their final destination.

But along with the 4 stagecoach passengers and their driver, there are a few more folks holing up there. Bruce Dern is a former Confederate General, Michael Madsen as a cowboy, Tim Roth as a traveling hangman and Demián Bichir as the inn's host. John Ruth is convinced that one or more of these men are in cahoots with Daisy to aid in her escape, and the game of cat and mouse is on. Add to the fact that some of these men know (and hate) each other due to their allegiances in the War, and we have a pressure cooker about to explode.

While there are no weak performances in this film, a couple really stood out. Samuel L. Jackson is astoundingly good as Major Warren – he has more screen time than anyone else and shines like rarely before. Tim Roth gives one of his best performances as the very proper Englishman and traveling hangman. But Jennifer Jason Leigh is mind-blowing as outlaw Daisy Domergue. I have been a fan of Leigh's her entire career since “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (1982) and have always considered her a tremendous actress, though often overlooked due to her beauty. Well in THIS film there is nothing beautiful about her – she is made up to be frightening looking and goes out of her way to make herself repulsive. Her character is utterly reprehensible, sick, foul and evil, yet Leigh never allows Daisy to be a caricature or comic-book villain. She deserves plenty of acclaim for just how great she is in this film.

Overall, though some of the plot twists were a bit predictable, the major ones were shockers. The dialogue Tarantino has written for this is (in my opinion) easily his most sophisticated and I was riveted throughout the entire film. The writing isn't as funny as "Pulp Fiction", but it is in many ways more realistic.  The film is brimming with anger and violence that is just below the surface, even when it hasn't crested yet. The tension is absolutely wonderful.

Unless you are a bit of a cringer (and there is plenty of gore and bloodiness in this to make you cringe), you'll find this a wonderful film. Except for one thing.....

SPOILER ALERT. No plot points given away, but one event described in detail:

Now we come to the one scene that I felt went too far. In it, Samuel L. Jackson described his execution of Bruce Dern's character's son. Because he hates Dern he tortures the man to death in the snow, humiliating him into a sexual act before he dies just to display the depth of his hatred. While this plot point itself didn't bother me, the way it is shown and described on-screen is horrifying. It is barely ahead of torture porn, and while there is almost nothing that I can't stomach in movies I felt this type of exploitation scene was waaaaaaaaaay over the top. Tarantino could have had all the raw emotion of the scene without the graphic-ness of the re-enactment or the extreme-ness of the dialogue Jackson uses. It's pretty damned disgusting.

Beyond that one scene, I loved the movie. I can't imagine how much more I would have loved it had Tarantino used a little more editorial intelligence in that one instance.