The Hateful Eight (2015)

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Story: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Walter Goggins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Demián Bichir
Music: Ennio Morricone
Time: 167 minutes
Bottom-line: Hated it! 

In 2013, Tarantino announced the idea of making his eighth film. Then there came the infamous incident of the script bring leaked, and Tarantino went on to say that he cancelled the movie. Now having watched this three-hour-long-film, I wish he had stuck to his decision, instead of going on to film The Hateful Eight. The film is basically QT’s version of And Then There Were None, with of course, the usual elements he adds and eventually spoils a good film. But one new thing QT tried with this film is that he filmed it in 70mm, the widest release in this format in 20 years. While the movie did display the typical 360 degree and the top view shots, I felt that the script was more suited for a stage drama.

SLJ as Major "The Bounty Hunter" Warren

“Got room for one more?” is the sentence that starts the story. Set a few years after the Civil War, the film begins with John Ruth (Russell), a hangman, taking his prisoner Daisy Domergue (Leigh) to Red Rock, and he is stopped by bounty hunter Major Warren (Jackson), who asks for a lift. They then encounter Chris Mannix (Goggins), who claims to be the Sherriff of Red Rock. The four of them are unable to make it all the way because of a blizzard, and they take refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, where they meet the person in charge, Bob (Bichir), the local hangman Mobray (Roth), Joe Gage (Madsen) and General Smithers (Dern). As the eight strangers get to know each other, they realise that no one is who they seem to be. The course of events that take place over the new few hours forms the story of the film.

Jennifer Leigh as Daisy "The Prisoner"
Domergue 

Now this is what happens in pretty much all QT films: an elaborate build-up for each character; elaborate build up for the important scenes especially the ones where someone, or usually everyone, dies at the end; lots of dialogues before the final shootout. The exact same thing happens here too. The plot is not really new if you’ve read Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. So what happens in the first 100 minutes is pretty obvious – people mysteriously start dying, the innocent ones first. It is the last one hour where things go bonkers.

(From top left) Russell as Ruth, SLJ, JJL, Madsen as Joe Gage,
Roth as Mobray, Goggins as Mannix, Dern as Smithers and
Bichir as Bob (bottom right) 

The acting made the film interesting though. SLJ and Jennifer Jason Leigh are the standouts, both giving brilliant performances, the former, playing a cunning bounty hunter, and the latter playing a psychotic prisoner, and that is the true highlight of the film. Russell and Goggins have given good supporting roles. Tim Roth tries desperately to imitate Christoph Waltz’ Hans Landa accent and body language... and fails miserably. The other characters barely have more than twenty minutes of screen time, and in fact, Bruce Dern never even gets up from his chair throughout his screen time. One thing I liked about the cast is the variety (importantly, the nickname of each character!). Also, every cast member has that strange look on his face, that immediately makes you doubt something about him, and that helps to build the suspense. But again, just like Django Unchained, the suspense is broken when the guns start talking. Soon it is a matter of who kills who, and that, according to me, ruins a perfectly good plot set-up.

But well if the film still received positive reviews then I guess I am not a QT-movie-liking person... I just feel that while he can build up the suspense well, he cannot keep it going.

My Rating: 2/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 82%