Just like every other Tarantino fan in their early twenties, I vividly remember the level of complete excitement when I saw my first film by the acclaimed director on the big screen.
Django Unchained came out in 2013 and was well worth the wait. Unfortunately The Hateful Eight didn’t really seem worth the short anticipation.
The eighth film by Quentin Tarantino follows all his trademarks; blood, gore, beautiful shots, and Samuel L. Jackson. It took over an hour to get to the gruesome bits, so with such a big build up, it ended with an anti-climax.
I saw an extended cut of the film in Panavision at Leicester Square, which made it the most theatrical cinema experience I’ve ever had the pleasure of being part of.
However, there was no shocking revelations or deep story lines to get our teeth into.
Tarantino’s two most recent films focus heavily on the themes of the wild west and bounty hunters, which is something that has never appealed to me in a film anyway.
The story follows the time unexpectedly shared between some bounty hunters and gang members, and they’re all right not to trust each other.
The classics by the controversial director like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are timeless and can be watched over and over to the point that we still notice new little details each time.
This isn’t the case with the more recent ones, that seem to be the product of his childhood imagination combined with his twisted teenage fantasies.
It’s safe to say that whilst it was an incredible performance from all the actors, nobody left the cinema feeling overwhelmed by how great it was.
Worryingly, the audience revelled so much at a face covered in guts and blood spurting across the super widescreen in slow motion. We all had a laugh but it was less than exciting.
Featured image by David Holt via FlickrCC.