Devilishly Good From Quintessentially Diabolical Tarantino

Rating: 10/10 (27 December 2015)

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)
Rating: 4.9/5 stars
"The Hateful Eight" is a cinema buff's dream - outrageous, extraordinary, extreme filmmaking at its most confident, and unlike anything else in theaters this season. But that's only to be expected from Quentin Tarantino, one of the few directors with the clout to pursue his vision wherever it takes him. It's a big, shambling, audacious inversion of the western genre, held together by Tarantino's sincere conviction that beyond his unbridled imagination, American audiences might recognize their own fractious nation.
Set about a decade after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth and his fugitive Daisy Domergue, race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as "The Hangman," will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren, a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix, a southern renegade who claims to be the town's new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie's, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob, who's taking care of Minnie's while she's visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray, the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers. As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all.
You can feel Tarantino crushing on Howard Hawks and John Ford in every frame of this weirdly engaging epic. The characters are big. The horses are real. And the quiet promise of the American Dream is always palpable. Even at almost three hours, the story never feels labored. A lot of that is because Tarantino's dialogue is rapturous to the ear. But mostly it's because the performances are all so strong. Hell, matter of fact it feels far shorter than many of the 100-or-so- minute duds we've had to endure this year.
Now that isn't saying that "The Hateful Eight" is a western as wacky as "Django Unchained", but it's everything you want from a Tarantino movie: unbearable tension, deft and intuitive dialogue interspersed with acerbic wit, fleshed-out characters, and sudden, grisly violence. This 8th outing from Tarantino offers another well-aimed round of his signature blend of action, humor, thrills, and over- the-top violence - all while demonstrating an even stronger grip on his filmmaking craft.