The Hateful Eight is a depraved delight

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2016)

In keeping with the vast majority of Tarantino's oeuvre, The Hateful Eight is a whip-smart smorgasbord of snappy dialogue and visual splendor. True fans of the perpetual envelope-pusher will delight in the vinegary verbal exchanges shared between his richest cast of characters yet; a motley crew of cold-hearted criminals whose over-the-top personalities are instrumental in keeping the audience engaged for the entirety of the film's rather outrageous three-hour runtime. Master cinematographer Robert Richardson expertly captures all of the glorious slow-burn action while employing an arsenal of old- school techniques that leave the film feeling pleasantly reminiscent of an earlier, tried- and-true Western aesthetic. As a partial homage to the gunslinging greatness of the 60s' Spaghetti Westerns,The Hateful Eight comes complete with a marvelous score from legendary composer Ennio Morricone, a beautifully ominous drone that works to heighten the hair-trigger tension that comes to a boil in the film's final act. The real cherries on top of this cinematic sundae, however, are the Oscar-worthy performances delivered by Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Each brings a uniquely unhinged authenticity to their respective characters that commands the audience's full attention whenever their bruised, bloodied and endlessly expressive faces appear on screen. Speaking of blood, I feel obligated to issue the following understated warning for those unfamiliar with Tarantino's work: it's violent, and The Hateful Eight is no exception. For those able to stomach a high level of gross-out gore and cringe-inducing brutality, this film is a guilty pleasure that's as cool as a Wyoming blizzard.