January's Movie: The Hateful Eight

I have to be honest, I haven't exactly watched a lot movies this month. I guess it's not fair to say that The Hateful Eight is the best movie of the month, however, it did look much more appealing than the others. Here's what I thought about it. 

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First things first, if you want to know what the movie is about, you can read the synopsis here. I'm so bad at describing things, I don't want to have to put you through my attempts. 

 Secondly, was it a good movie? Yes. I except nothing less from Quentin Tarantino, the genius behind Inglorious Basterds, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill Vol 1&2. However, this movie is not his best. In fact, all it essentially did was shout 

'I AM QUENTIN TARANTINO. I LOVE BLOOD AND MAKING PEOPLE FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE'. 

Don't get me wrong, that's not a bad- it's one of the things I love about Tarantino's movies. But when the movie lacks a solid story, it becomes a bit meaningless. And I think The Hateful Eight sort of fits into that category. 

I didn't expect it to jump straight into action within the first 5 minutes, however, this movie takes 50 minutes just to 'build up'. The characters were literally introduced one by one; it was like we were watching the cut-out scenes of 'A Day in the Life of a Cowboy'. 

But then I thought about it a bit more. This is a cowboy film, and if anything, Tarantino did a great job replicating it. Cowboy films have that element of long beginnings and they never really starts until an hour into it. So I guess the only reason why I really disliked the issue with 'time', was because it's not something I am used to. I do encourage you to watch it with an open mind. You came to watch a cowboy film, that is what you're going to get. 

The movie really started for me, when everyone's gun started going off. Finally, a dilemma appeared, and things started to get a bit tense. Between my friends, we tried to guess who would be the first get killed? Who's going to survive? That is why I really liked the movie, along with the cinematography, colour grading, setting and casting, which were all spot on. 

Would I recommend it, yeah sure why not. I think it's inevitable to be slightly put off at the beginning because of the timming. Like I said, it is a Western film so that is what you'll be watching. Aside from that , it's hilarious, gory (it's an 18!), intense, and it will make you shuffle in your chair a few times along with everyone else when racist slurs are being yelled in the movie- trust Tarantino to do that.

- Leslie