The Hateful Eight

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

Director : Quentin Tarantino

Year : 2016

Genre : Thriller

Rating : ****

'The Hateful Eight', the highly anticipated 8th movie by Quentin Tarantino sees the master filmmaker at his most minimalistic. It lacks the many trademarks we have come to associate with a traditional Tarantino picture including his unmistakable stylistic touches (close up POV's, 360 shots, use of monochrome etc.) multiple time-shifting,intertwining narratives and, of course, a large star-studded cast and while still running for the best part of three hours, it feels noticeably less cluttered than his last few films 'Inglourious Basterds' and 'Django Unchained'. But it is in this minimalism where the magic of 'The Hateful Eight' lies.

Set in the wintry wastelands of a post-civil war Wyoming, 'The Hateful Eight' tells the violent story about a group of secretive criminals, bounty hunters and other renegades who must take refuge in the chilly shelter of a middle-of-nowhere haberdashery store to escape the perils of the lethal snowstorm roaring outside. At the centre of this problematic throng is Kurt Russell's rugged bounty hunter John 'The Hangman' Ruth - a notoriously efficient vigilante who is permantly handcuffed to his fugitive Daisy Domergue (a brilliantly brittle Jennifer Jason Leigh). 

Featuring alongside this scene-stealing dynamic duo are a bunch of other scoundrels and rogues played with verve and Yankee grit by the likes of Bruce Dern, Damien Bichir and Tarantino regulars Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and of course, the always reliable Samuel L. Jackson. As the claustrophobic nature of their situation begins to affect their collective tempers and as individual secrets and motives begin to reluctantly spill out, it becomes increasingly clear that the blizzard slowly destroying the door to their little haven may be the least of this unpredictable groups worries. After all, a bullet or a blade can do a lot more lasting damage than a snowflake.

Shot in beautifully evocative Ultra Panavision 70mm by cinematographer Robert Richardson, 'The Hateful Eight' may very well be the most visually breathtaking film Quentin Tarantino has ever made. With it's snow covered vistas and blizzard ridden locations, the film turns the usually mild weathered state of Wyoming into a relentlessly freezing cauldron of death and desolation - the perfect setting for this hugely entertaining tale of retribution, regret, and bloody revenge.

The performances across the board are terrific with Samuel L. Jackson and Tim Roth both bringing a tremendous amount of class and vigour to their respective roles as a no-nonsense former Union cavalry officer and a highly eloquent English executioner. Kurt Russell (starring in his second claustrophobic snow-set thriller after John Carpenter's still horrifying 1982 horror gem 'The Thing') also delivers a great performance as the volatile yet surprisingly likable bounty hunter who wants to see his helpless prisoner swing from the gallows while Bruce Dern's understated yet quietly powerful portrayal of a damaged war veteran proves to be one of 'The Hateful Eight's very few emotionally driven elements. However, while the mostly male cast all do very good work here, it is the battered and bruised Jennifer Jason Leigh who ultimately steals the show - her tenacious attitude and fierce determination proving to be movie's fiery backbone and one that may just win the immensely talented actress an Academy Award on February 28th.

While I did say at the beginning of this review that 'The Hateful Eight' lacked many of the stylistic elements of a traditional Tarantino film, there are some steadfast conventions that have remained; those being a fast-talking, self-referential, instantly quotable screenplay and, of course, an almost excessive amount of bloodshed. Heads explode with delightfully crunchy glee, testicles are blown to pieces with painfully sinewy relish and blood is vomited with Sam Raimi-esque aplomb. This is on-screen carnage more reminiscent of the chaotic fun of Peter Jackson than the balletic poetry of Sam Peckinpah and while some have derided 'The Hateful Eight' for it's almost pornographic levels of brutality, it's cartoonish excess is both joyously repellent and unashamedly entertaining. The simply designed wooden interiors that began as the perfect sanctuary from the raging storm quickly loses it's rustic appeal when it's many walls are decorated with little bits of skull and brain that have recently erupted from a perfectly aimed headshot. The tremendous screenplay written by Tarantino is equally uncompromising - its disarming use of the 'N' word and other colourful uses of the vernacular shocking us into our seats with guilty laughs and sometimes agonizing revulsion - a key scene with Samuel L. Jackson painstakingly describing his torture of a white racist being a particularly wordy highlight.

One part character based Western drama, the other nail bitingly intense Hitchcockian mystery thriller, 'The Hateful Eight' showcases Quentin Tarantino at the absolute height of his directorial powers. It is a beautifully shot, masterfully told saga underpinned with a glorious soundtrack by the legendary Ennio Morricone and performed by a terrific cast clearly on the same page as their director. Yes, as is the case with every one of his movies these days, 'The Hateful Eight' is in desperate need of an editor but for those 3 hours, I was never bored or checking my watch.  The end result is a movie I could see again and again and again - in fact it may just be Quentin Tarantino's best movie since 'Jackie Brown' and his most consistently entertaining since 'Pulp Fiction'.