Hatefully great

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 2016)

You can imagine, what will happen when this once in a lifetime writer/director leaves us. It'll be a sad day, and with Tarantino, saying he might retire, after his tenth, that will hurt a bit. His latest pic, although you have to be patient, where some moments, might almost have you pulling your hair (believe me, it'll pay off later) is just another fine example of movie making and story telling which he does so well. The photography is fantastic, but it's Morricone's haunting opening score that will get you, for you know what's to follow are moments and characters of real unpleasantries. We're in the midst of a killer blizzard where hot shot bounty hunter, Russell, is escorting a soon to be dead hung woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh, superb) making a hell of a comeback, one of those actresses that never lacks. They have picked up a suspicious stray, Samuel L Jackson, a Major, where later, another guy, joins them (Walter Goggins) the new soon to be sheriff of Red Rock, which is very hard to digest, where for one thing, he never really shuts up, a sign of nervousness. Taking refuge at a lodge known as Minnie's haberdashery, also great you have a candy tooth, they meet a pack of other intriguing dudes (Roth, an English hangman) (Madsen, a mummy's boy, en route to visit his Mummy, giving off a much different character to a lot of other stuff he's done) and (a much old frail Dern, as an ex-confederate) who we kind of suspect are hiding a lot about their activities. This is what really makes it fun, but again, still, you'll need some waiting out, where you just get involved with the characters, amidst coffee drinking and stew eating. Then comes the violence, and it's very impactful, Django, taking a backseat to this, and shootouts, where Jackson in a flashback scenes, really shows the meaning of black power, where there's killer, revengeful moments between him and Dern. Jennifer and Samuel aren't the only ones to be commended on acting, where them just having accolades here is truly, unjust. Jennifer's great, though I have seen better performances from Jackson. Goggins is better, just darn great as the yacking, supposed, new Red Rock sheriff, with one of those standout performances (where did this actor come from), and like I said, Madsen's very different here, rolling with his character, the most intriguing out of them all. Roth, though delivering acting wise, is truly annoying in his over the top character, very much frighteningly similar to that particular annoying one, in Four Rooms, where here though, is purpose, as you'll see. Channing Tatum's performance is the weakest of the lot of course, coming in later, as you could say in a surprise visit. I'm glad I had a short amount of time, with this guy. When we go back earlier in the day to the sky blue outside Minnie's, Zoe Bell's Kiwi accent, again ruins the film, momentarily, period wise too. Yes there are surprise moments, but you can pretty much run down the plot, in simplistic terms as the story and motivations of our hanging out and waiting four, before Russell and co arrive. Russell's really good too. Again QT had done us solid. This is a film, like I said, you have to be patient and see it for what is, where second time, round, you enjoy it more, trust me.