The Hateful Eight - Tarantino goes too far again

In the list of films in which Quentin Tarantino seems hell-bent on climbing inside his own arsehole in the pursuit of postmodern perfection - The Hateful Eight certainly has a place.

The Hateful Eight tells the story of two bounty hunters who take refuge in a cabin during a snow storm.  One bounty hunter (Kurt Russel) is transporting his prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh), while the other (Samuel L Jackson) is simply on his way to collect a reward.  The cabin where they end up stopping is populated by a group of nefarious loners, some, none or all of whom might be interested in stealing the bounty hunter's reward.  What could possibly go wrong?

The major issues are 1) there is no way this should all take over 3 hours to resolve, 2) the fact it is all set in one location and 3) to be honest it isn't really that interesting anyway.  Tarantino's signature tropes across his films are his dialogue, use of music and non-linear storytelling.  His work is synonymous with American postmodern cinema.  These elements are all present in The Hateful Eight, but he lays everything on so thick that any intrigue in the actual story is lost in his insistence on dragging yet another long and heavy look out of Kurt Russel.

I lost count of the number of times I wanted a scene to cut before it went on for a further 30 seconds.  The outdoors locations Tarantino's team found for the film's setting are undoubtedly beautiful, but a film has editors for a reason.  Three hours for a film with so simple a plot is far too much, especially so for one set for two thirds of its run-time in the same poorly-lit location.  As ever Tarantino's direction is flawless, with a couple of little flourishes chucked in to show that he's still out there on the cutting edge making interesting films in interesting ways.  But I just can't get over how long and simple the finished product is.

By one count this is Tarantino's 8th film as a director (geddit? his 8th film has an 8 in the title!).  It baffles me to see this cited online as an example of why The Hateful Eight is a good film.  If it was an hour shorted I'm very sure I would have a different opinion, but the final cut is just too long, just too smug.  It's cinematic onanism.