Bloody but Unbowed

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2016)

If there was one thing you should know about The Hateful Eight it is that the violence is tame, by modern standards, and Quentin Tarantino does not revel in it as Angelina Jolie seems to have reveled in the torture of the movie Unbroken. The violence is entirely driven by the plot and there is no more nor less than what the plot demands. That said, the plot and all of the plot twists clearly were written to maximize the blood. So, is the plot worth 168 minutes of your time? The plot? No. The acting, yes.
The plot suffers from being somewhat contrived. The dialogue is clearly anachronistic especially if you seen any accurate post-civil war movies. As examples the word "blacks" would not have been used then. Negros, in polite conversation, darkies, or "Niggers" as is sometimes used in the movie. The use, by one of the characters, of the word "dispassionate" to describe himself also seemed forced, and out of place. As others have pointed out, the portion which is narrated also detracts from your involvement in the action.
There are also some points no one has mentioned but might be noticed by one who is familiar with music: How does a piano stay in tune in a very cold cabin? It doesn't, or course. With all the things they had at their disposal why should they have been incapable of building a door latch with the wood they had? The pacing also suffers at points but the photography, the film score, and the acting are unimpeachable. So the movie is good enough to hold your interest, good enough to see and good enough (barely) for the rating I have given it.