The Hateful Eight: 8 Reasons It's Quentin Tarantino's Worst Film
3. The 70mm Cinematography Is Somewhat Wasted
The choice to shoot on Ultra Panavision 70mm film shows that Tarantino is serious about his cinephiles enthusiasm for preserving old school methods, and the director can never be faulted for trying to keep celluloid alive. In an age of increasingly digitised, saturated, pristinely presented cinema, Tarantino and his ilk are a blessing. And of course, The Hateful Eight, as with all pictures lensed by director of photography, Robert Richardson (a regular cinematographer of Tarantino, Oliver Stone and Martin Scorsese), looks fantastic, especially in the films opening scenes, which see some stunning, sweeping, snow-bound vistas shot in all their Panavision glory. The first movie since Khartoum (1966) to use Panavision 70, one cant help but think that The Hateful Eight somewhat wastes the method, however; glorious to look at, yes, but ultimately a bit redundant considering that three-quarters of the movie takes place indoors. And yes, when the camera lingers on Sam Jacksons face so that you can see every pore, its great, but it remains that UP70 style is surely better served to grand tableaux, to vistas and horizons and outdoor landscapes in the manner of David Lean or even John Ford, whose How the West Was Won was shot on the system to greater effect. Using it indoors, cleverly and brilliantly as it's done, in the end feels slightly counter-intuitive.
