The Hateful Eight is Quentin Tarantino’s most indulgent film yet. Depending on how you feel about his past films and idiosyncrasies, such a statement can be read as either a strict warning or a raving endorsement. Personally, I really like Tarantino’s voice as a writer and his distinct directorial footprint. Despite jumping between genres with almost every picture, his presence is always notable in every aspect of his films, from the writing, to the performances, to the staging, cinematography, and even soundtrack. So if his indulgences are the key to making his films unique and enjoyable, The Hateful Eight should be a sure-fire success in my eyes.
And yet, Tarantino’s inclinations and his willingness to fly by the seat of his pants do get in the way of The Hateful Eight at times. There is A LOT of content in this film that, at 2 hours and 47 minutes, probably could have been trimmed down or cut altogether. Lots of plot and character backgrounds get repeated in different conversations throughout the movie, subplots are included with no bearing on the central conflict, and an entire chapter of the film is ultimately insignificant because the same information is passed on in a few lines of dialogue in the next chapter. Hell, an entire character exists solely because Quentin Tarantino had a killer monologue that he wanted Samuel L Jackson to deliver that necessitated his presence.