You like crazy, whimsical characters that utter unique lines amongst a premise that harkens back to the cinema of old? Welcome to a Tarantino movie. I expected and got nothing less with the movie. Sure, the film is almost 3 hours long but I hardly noticed. Strangely enough, once the script was leaked online a couple years ago, the director was hesitant to even shoot the film. He gathered most all of the casted actors to do a line read before the filming in what turned out to be a lot like a stage play. Funny enough, the film itself lends almost perfectly to the stage. We have minimal settings and a maximum of character actors that permeate the story. You chuck this along with the genre in which it is mostly embedded (mystery), and this is un-ventured territory for the director.
The setting this go around takes place a few years post-Civil War in Wyoming as a bounty hunter and his prisoner are forced to take refuge at a cabin due to a blizzard. While there, they are faced with nefarious strangers who all have questionable reasons for being there in the first place. As the blizzard wears on, we begin to know more about these eclectic characters and begin to form theories as to what will happen next. Every scene can be telling.
The film is mostly linear until close to the 3rd act (Chapter 5) of the film where they provide a backstory to some of the other characters. Many liken the story to that of The Thing (which also starred Kurt Russell) in that a group of people are looking to survive but signs suggest that there is at least one guilty party amongst the group of eight that isn’t who they appear to be. So, if you enjoy a good ‘who dunit’ story along with flashy characters and witty dialogue, I’d highly recommend you check out The Hateful Eight.
What I felt lacking, at least in some regard, was the fact that Tarantino seemed to deviate from having a noticeable emotional core to the film. This is what I thought Django Unchained did so well. It is a small gripe but when you decide to focus on a myriad of different characters (instead of a few) you begin to lose any emotional attachment you may want to have. This is more of a preference in storytelling but I know that if Tarantino focused more on the emotive angle, he’d be more successful.
With that aside, I cannot credit the cast and their performances enough in this. The film has a bevy of stars that include: Kurt Russell (as John “The Hangman” Ruth), Samuel L. Jackson (as Major Marquis Warren), Jennifer Jason Leigh (as Daisy Domergue –the prisoner), Tim Roth (as Oswaldo Mobray), Michael Madsen (as John Gage), Walter Goggins (as Sheriff Mannix), Bruce Dern (as General Sanford), and Demian Bichir (as Bob). Every character is unique and different and you begin to almost root for some of them to at least survive the blizzard.
Samuel L. Jackson has been in all of Tarantino’s film (except two: Reservoir Dogs, Deathproof). That’s something I didn’t really know and look, it certainly isn’t a complaint. Jackson brings a sort of balance to his movies. He hits it out of the park, yet again. Tarantino provides him with such a rich character to embellish in that almost every line he utters I end up grinning in joy. He can act and overact on demand and eats up any scene he is in. I imagine it would be difficult to imagine another Tarantino film without Samuel L. Jackson.
Note: The grandiose story told by Samuel L. Jackson’s character was ridiculous as much as it was shocking. *You’ll know what I’m referring to once you’ve seen the movie.
Beer Pairing: I happen to thoroughly enjoy Dale’s Pale Ale while watching another ‘cold’ film (the other being The Revenant). It has a nice, whole bodied taste with a slight hint of hops. They gave it to me in a glass but I highly recommend having it out of the can.
Then there’s Kurt Russell, who has been having a sort of career resurgence. He was previously in Tarantino’s Death Proof (2007), the well-received Bone Tomahawk (2015) (88% on RT), and Furious 7 (2015). He is next set to star in Deepwater Horizon (in 2016) and Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2. in 2017. I’m really happy that we get to see more of Kurt Russell. He’s one of my favorites for very good reasons (see: Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York, The Thing, and Tango & Cash). That last one is a guilty pleasure, alright? Russell is excellent in ‘Hateful Eight’ and plays a quirky bounty hunter trying to do his detective work on potential threats from the other ‘guests’.
Everyone in this movie shines. From the weasel-y Sheriff played Walter Goggins (Justified, Django Unchained), the grouchy General played by Bruce Dern (Nebraska), the obnoxious Jennifer Jason Leigh(Existenz, Single White Female), to the peculiar other hangman in Tim Roth’s (The Incredible Hulk, Pulp Fiction) Oswaldo.
Outside of the great script and performances, the other notable elements of the film were: costume design – (each were each distinguishable from each other) and musical score – by the legendary Ennio Morricone (who just won a Golden Globe for Best Musical Score for ‘Hateful Eight’ ). I actually don’t agree that it was the best score of 2015. I thought the scores for The Revenant and Steve Jobs were better.
My Tarantino Film Ranking:
8. Jackie Brown
7. Death Proof
6. Inglorious Basterds
5. The Hateful Eight
4. Reservoir Dogs
3. Kill Bill 1 & 2
2. Pulp Fiction
1. Django Unchained
This is not to say that I didn’t like the film. Actually, Tarantino has yet to make a bad one. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Hateful Eight and would recommend it to any fans of Quentin Tarantino. Don’t worry, there’s still over the top violence and colorful humor. Have you known a Tarantino film in which those two factors didn’t come into play? That’s what I thought.
Current Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%
Grade: B+
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