THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015)

THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015) - This film directed and written by Quentin Tarantino is a nearly three hour glorification of the worst that humanity has to offer with so much blood having been spilled by the time the third hour rolls along and with virtually all of the characters either dead or on the verge of dying. In many ways this film played more like a stage play with much of the first hour being played in the stage coach with what started off as some clever banter but quickly degenerating into a potpourri of extreme violence, ugliness and blood letting to the ninth degree. Mr. Tarantino seems never to have really advanced beyond the mentality of a sixteen year old boy and thus he seems to subject his audiences to a kind of sophomoric way of thinking that is quite deadening to the soul. The picture stars Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Michael Madsen and Tim Roth all of whom have appeared in far worthier productions than this, which hopefully with time will be soon forgotten. Beautifully photographed by Robert Richardson in 70MM wide screen with an entrancing and highly effective score by Ennio Morricone, this however should not be seen as any sort of endorsement. For the life of me I can’t understand how any responsible human being would put out there such a nonsensical piece of violence that many young people will see, simply reflecting and influencing these mass shootings that have become a regular occurrence in our society.