There's a lot of reason to have Quentin Tarantino on the brain in 2019. Along with this year marking the 25th anniversary of Pulp Fiction, he is returning to cinemas this summer with the highly anticipated Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. Despite the barrage of reasons to celebrate, there's one that falls on the curious side, especially given that the director isn't often associated with TV miniseries. His Oscar-winning 2016 film The Hateful Eight received a lot of acclaim during its theatrical run and gave the filmmaker one of his longest running times. It's hard to imagine, but there was an even longer Roadshow cut that was hard to see outside of theaters... until Netflix. The only catch is that you'll have to watch it, albeit in a fairly butchered form.
While the film has since become divisive, The Hateful Eight is one of my favorites from Tarantino. Despite its acidic personality, it has some of his strongest character writing to date and features both his most self-indulgent tendencies and expression of restraint. It's a period piece with a lot of bold things to say about 21st century America - and just so happens to have two career highlights from Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Jason Leigh. As someone who really likes the film, I'm sort of disappointed that I failed to see the Roadshow edition, which featured lengthier scenes and an intermission along with being presented in 70 mm. Much like Tarantino's version of Kill Bill that would combine both chapters called The Whole Bloody Affair, I worried that The Hateful Eight's longer edition would never see the light of day.
Well, it finally showed up on Netflix in the form of the "Extended Edition." It's being touted as having everything that the Roadshow version had but runs a tad longer than that version. Why? Well, it's being posited as a miniseries with chapters ranging from 50 to 56 minutes:
For those familiar with the film (or Tarantino's approach to the narrative), the idea of chapters isn't exactly new. He's been associated with this structure from the very beginning, and it has helped to make individual sections of his movie more memorable. In fact, there's nothing new in the chapter names, which are all taken from the film. What is new is that they're broken up into individual sections which, unlike the other films, can be watched separately. But why are they much longer than the original Roadshow version? The answer is simple.
Because it is being presented as a miniseries, The Hateful Eight's format is now structured like one. As per usual with Netflix series, there's the opening and closing credits along with a recap at the front of every chapter. These add precious minutes to the average running time that to those binging the film will likely feel bloated. Still, with only four chapters it won't be too redundant of an issue. If anything, it breaks up a film that is largely claustrophobic and slowly paced and gives the audience a chance to consume it at an easier pace. It's still the same divisive story, but there's less incentive to sit through the 3+ hours of running time in one sitting.
Odds are that those who love The Hateful Eight or Tarantino, to begin with, will watch it regardless of the tassels. I for one have been looking forward to it since it was reported that Netflix would air it. For what it's worth, the original is a fairly concrete movie and I'm not entirely sure what can be added to make it better. Still, there was something that was removed and it would be fun to see it in a grander context. I am, after all, a person who saw Alexander Payne's Nebraska in color and is still trying to track down a copy of Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity in the "diamond edition" (without a score). I welcome this new version and I hope it's good and adds some sort of richer context to the story. I also hope that the breaking up of chapters won't be too much of an issue for this film that seems to have had a rockier existence than your average Tarantino movie.
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