Good but a little over-rated

Rating: 8/10 (3 September 2016)

This is a Tarantino film so right of the bat, this film has good dialogue and music. Morricone's score is good (not his best but I've heard worse by him). And the cinematography is good (it was shot in 70mm after all).
Now, I've gotten that out of the way, I'm going to explain why I feel this film is over-rated.
The movie is set almost entirely in one location and is mostly people talking to one another. On paper this doesn't sound too bad, Reservoir Dogs was mostly in one location and is mostly people talking to one another. But Reservoir Dogs is more interesting and was a lot shorter. Keeping a film in mainly one location is feasible. 90 - 100 minutes? Yes. 3 hours? No. There's very little to keep interest throughout the movie, Reservoir Dogs solved this problem by using flashbacks regularly at different locations to keep it interesting.
It also takes half an hour to get the plot moving. That's a sixth of the film's running time devoted to getting to the location. Here's a better way of doing it: have John Ruth's carriage arrive at the Haberdashery right after the opening credits. There, I got them to the location without wasting half an hour. At most, it should only take 10 minutes to get the plot moving. In that time, I could watch an episode of The Simpsons with a complete, satisfying story.
Why was this film shot on 70mm? It looks good but there isn't much justification to use it. It would have better suited Kill Bill (Volume 1 at least), Inglourious Basterds or Django Unchained. There is nothing visually that could warrant 70mm. Say what you want about Nolan but his use of 70mm and IMAX is justified because he makes large-scale action films.
One particular silly moment was when Michael Madsen's character confessed to poising the coffee very quickly. The film may as well not setting up the mystery if the perpetrator will admit to it so quickly.
When Channing Tatum didn't show up and his name was in the credits, I suspected he would show up as a surprise villain. I was right. He was under the floorboards. I also figured out Michael Madsen's character poised the coffee, my logic was wrong but I still got it right. But to Tarantino's credit, I was surprised John Ruth was killed so early on.
I gave this film a 7/10 because I do like it and I have to admit that it is well crafted, despite over indulgent.