Film Review: The Hateful Eight (18)

The Hateful Eight is a Western but being a Tarantino film this isn’t your ordinary wild west outing. With Django Unchained the story was more of a journey with the main character seeking help from a mentor to find his beloved wife. The Hateful Eight is more thoughtful as a drama and mystery thriller.

Bounty Hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) & Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

Be warned, the film is just shy of three hours running time but Tarantino does allow an old fashioned intermission for a comfort break and refreshments. Having said that. The film does hold your interest at all times and you are always kept in some doubt as to what is going to happen to any one of the characters. A sort of Agatha Christie meets Inglourious Basterds in the West. But with slightly more colourful language.

The film is set a few years after the American Civil War and opens with a stagecoach going ‘hell for leather’ trying to outrun a snowstorm through the Wyoming landscape. The stagecoach is flagged down by an ex-Union Army officer, Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction 94’) who is now a renowned Bounty Hunter, and is sitting on top of the bodies of three deceased outlaws that he decided to bring in dead rather than alive.

Oswaldo (tim Roth) and Chris (Walton Goggins)

The Major is after a ride to the next town, Red Rock and to shelter from the blizzard. Unfortunately, the coach driver O.B. (James Parks) informs him that the occupant of the stagecoach has privately hired the wagon and so it is up to him whether or not the Major can catch a ride.

The passenger is another Bounty Hunter, John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth (Kurt Russell, Tombstone 93’ The Thing 82’) who is transporting a murder by the name of Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Single White Female 92’ ) to hang in Red Rock. As luck would have it the two Bounty Hunters know each other and Ruth offers the Major a ride. Along the way they run into an ex-confederate renegade Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins, Django Unchained 2012) in the middle of the storm, who tells them that he is the new Sheriff of Red Rock and also needs a ride. Ruth has his suspicions about Mannix but lets him join them on the coach none the less.

Murderer Daisy

The film really kicks-in once the weather forces the stagecoach to stop at a watering hole called Minnie’s Haberdashery. John Ruth decides to sit-out the storm in the cabin with his prisoner. The Major who is familiar with the pit stop discovers that Minnie and her husband are nowhere to be seen and they are greeted by a mysterious Mexican called  Bob, (Demian Bichir) who is looking after the store while the owners are away. Who is this Mexican?

There is also an assortment of strange suspicious looking characters sheltering in the cabin.
An English gentleman by the name of Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth, Reservoir Dogs 92’ ) a hangman also travelling to Red Rock. Joe Gage a cow-puncher (Michael Madsen, Reservoir Dogs 92’), and an old Confederate General by the name of Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern, Django Unchained, Silent Running 72’).

Bounty Hunter John Ruth

Ruth is paranoid about everyone and thinks that they either want the $10,000 bounty for themselves or they are in cahoots with Daisy and are there to set her free.

What transpires is a brilliant mystery thriller that Tarantino directs so well. Each of the characters has their own story but who can you believe and who can you trust. Ruth announces his intentions to all and does his best to outthink the strangers and disarm those he can, just for peace of mind. He also makes an alliance with the Major in an attempt to survive the next two days.

Bounty Hunter Major Marquis Warren
The whole film looks great and the camera work is stunning. Tarantino brought back cinematographer Robert Richardson from Inglourious Basterds, Django and Kill Bill to create the mood. The scenes were shot using antique lenses and filmed in 70 millimetre Panavision for the wider shot look.

There is also some good use of shifting focus in the cabin scenes. Much of the filming in the cabin has that claustrophobic feel to it as it did in the Bier Keller scene in Inglourious Basterds. We also see the tension build up in a similar way.

The General (Bruce Dern)

Tarantino likes to entertain his audience with the unusual, such as Chapter headings and the unexpected. There is a running gag about the cabin door that has to be nailed shut every time someone enters or leaves and everyone is constantly drinking coffee! The director also likes to switch from the present to the past as in Pulp Fiction.

When it comes, the violence can be extremely brutal and bloody. Also the ‘N’ word is unreservedly used. Although if you are going to watch a Tarantino movie you know not to expect Disney.

Another trait of Tarantino, is that he is good at reviving careers of certain actors, as he did with John Travolta and I think Kurt Russell may do well out of this. He commands the scenes that he is in with gusto and he lets you know that he is a force to be reckoned with. I’m not counting Death Proof (2007) which wasn’t such a big movie.

Cowboy Joe Gage (Michael Madsen)

Samuel L Jackson is, well Samuel L Jackson. Just think ‘Jules’ with a fancy cowboy hat instead of an afro. His character Major Marquis Warren appears to be the brains of the eight and seems familiar to the audience and for me he is the protagonist you latch onto and root for, despite his other faults.

Jennifer Jason Leigh is the catalyst amongst the whole proceedings and plays ruthless and crazy with equal vigour.

I’m not sure if Tarantino was showing a nod to John Carpenter but there are a number of scenes that were very reminiscent of The Thing (1982) especially with the snowy landscape.

A thoroughly entertaining film. One of Tarantino’s best in a long time, I want to watch it again!