Tarantino At His Usual Best

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2016)

Having been a big lover and fan for Quentin Tarantino's films since witnessing Reservoir Dogs back in the early 2000's, we come have reached to his 8th feature film in his amazing career and now he returns to another 'Western' based film but not a direct sequel to Django Unchained but as an epic, 3 ½ hour presentation called 'The Hateful Eight'. Jay and I (along with some of our friends) had taken the opportunity to watch this in the glorious Ultra Panavision 70mm print that Tarantino had used when filming this movie (he calls it the 'Roadshow version') and features an overture and intermission segments that appear in this version but the digital release (that's due for release on January 21st) will be altered down to a less wider screen size and loses some of the shots that don't appear well on standard digital formats but most of the plot will still be intact but runs at a shorter running time of 167 minutes compared to the 187 minute version. What makes it so 'glorious' is that the picture format is bigger, wider and the vintage camera system used produces a sharper and clearer image that suppresses today's HD format. The result is an amazing experience that will impress but can be seen at only exclusive cinemas that have his format, so fingers crossed if this does surface on the Blu-Ray release later this year.
The plot is simple and easy to follow in five chapters, we first meet Major Marquis Warren stranded with three dead bounties being transported to Red Rock and hitches a ride with the well-known bounty hunter John Ruth and his prisoner Daisy Domergue who he plans to see hanged for her crimes in Red Rock. John is suspicious for anyone trying to steal Daisy for her substantial bounty from him, and along the trip they also meet Former Lost-Causer militiaman and the supposed new 'Sheriff' of Red Rock Chris Mannix who convinces John to hitch a ride to town in his coach. Having a wild blizzard fast approaching behind them, they stop for the night to get shelter from the blizzard at Minnie's Haberdashery, where other unknown lodgers reside from the blizzard; Bob (the caretaker of the Haberdashery while the owners are on leave), Oswaldo Mobray (the hangman of Red Rock), Joe Gage (a quiet cowboy on his way to his mother's) and Sanford Smithers (a former Confederate general of the Civil War). A suspicious Ruth disarms all but Warren, but it becomes a long night of suspicion, deception and whom to trust for all these eight strangers as who is really telling the truth.
The first act of the film is more of a character build up, where the audience is introduced to the eight strangers where they state where they come from and what is their purpose to the plot. The casting here is well chosen, with Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madson, Demián Bichir and Bruce Dern each playing the leading 8 characters while there is a small supporting cast that handle themselves easily and don't overthrow the leads. The best performances are a tough to pick as all the leading cast gave solid performances, but I give high approvals to Jackson, Russell Leigh, Goggins and Roth for making their characters believable and kept it going throughout the five chapters. The second act of THE picks up more on the brutal, over the top and bloody violence that occurs in Tarantino's films while resolving the plot and getting closer to the climax that gets bold and suspenseful, the results are great but there are moments where it could you make you feel uneasy and quench in your seats. The plot overall is great and carries the spirit of a Western film and as well a stage play but on the screen, but it can be long and dull ride for those who hate dialogue driven films as the violence plays out more in Act 2 but I thought each of the characters were given solid moments of seriousness, establishment and at times humour when needed.
The cinematography is as beautiful and detailed throughout like the recent acclaimed film 'The Revenant', having watched the 70mm print we can see that Tarantino's camera work captures not only the characters on-screen but the snowy and yet detailed environment of the mountain scenery and cabin location (as most of the film is set inside of the cabin after we are introduced to each of the eight characters). The music score here is composed by the legendary Ennio Morricone (known his musical scores for other westerns such as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and other excerpts used in Tarantino's previous films) has composed an entire original score that mark not only new work in recent years but the very first film for Tarantino that uses an original score than having to used licensed music and scores from various films. The music plays out as mysterious, engaging and yet at times feels like a horror film but it suits to the film so well that it won not only a Golden Globe for Best Original Score but an Academy Award nomination in the upcoming 2016 Oscars (due for air on February 28th) alongside with nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Leigh) and Best Cinematography (Robert Richardson).
Overall, The Hateful Eight can be seen by some as the weakest work from Tarantino as Django, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and even Reservoir still have a huge following and acclaim from fans and citric alike or seen as a great form of film but not as strong as the previous films. I however think that this is a solid presentation that keeps me hooked with character development, plot and the Tarantino quality that I have known of and earns a spot on my list of top films for 2016, alongside The Revenant.