Review of The Hateful Eight (2015) by Kevin P — 16 Nov 2017

If you've seen Quentin Tarantino flicks before, then you know what to expect coming into this. After Django Unchained, Tarantino clearly wanted to go right back to the Western genre. There's a lot going on in this plot, though it mainly plays out as a murder mystery of sorts.

The cast has some highs and lows. I thought Major Marquis (Samuel L. Jackson), John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) were all standouts. Though the scene involving them and Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) at the start is something that probably wasn't a necessity, it was one of the more compelling moments of the film.

I found myself more interested in that than a lot of the stuff once they reached the cabin and the murder mystery stuff began. The early portions in the cabin were dull to me. It didn't grip me from the time Oswald (Tim Roth) introduced himself until Marquis' story about the son of a Confederate General (Bruce Dern).

The chapter format was a good idea. However, starting chapter four with a strange voiceover explaining things felt very out of place and took me more out of the film. Adding Daisy's brother (Channing Tatum) made for a fun twist that set up the climactic standoff.

I expected it to end the way it did, for the most part, I was just unsure who would die. The dialogue is sharp, the cinematography is wonderful and the film is beautiful. It's typical Tarantino, so I think your feelings on this will vary based on your opinion of him.

I like, but don't love him, which is how I felt about the movie.