The eighth Tarantino movie still retains his signature

Rating: 8/10 (23 December 2015)

In post civil war American frontier, the bounty hunter John Ruth rides a coach steered by OB Jackson to Red Rock in a blizzard, bringing in the fugitive Daisy Domergue to collect. On the way they meet another bounty hunter former Union Major Marquis Warren. Ruth lets him in though with some doubts for they've met once before. Warren lets him see his correspondence letter with Lincoln. Soon the coach finds another man hitching a ride in the blizzard, Chris Mannix, who claims to be the new Sheriff for Red Rock. Again Ruth gives a ride with caution. They reach Minnie's Haberdashery in the mountains to rest for the blizzard. Minnie wasn't there and a Mexican named Bob welcomes them. Inside Ruth finds earlier guests Joe Gage, Oswaldo Mobray who claims to be the area's hangman, and an old man. Warren, Mannix, OB, and Bob tend to the horses before going in. Warren questions Bob's employment at Minnie's. Inside, Mannix recognize the old man as a former Confederate General Smithers, and Warren does too as he was at opposite sides at the Battle of Chattanooga with the general. As their dialog heats up, Mobray suggests they stay on opposite corners of the room as northerners and southerners.
Ruth suspects something's fishy, so he makes a clear warning to everybody, and collects the earlier guests' pistols. At dinner Mannix claims that Warren's Lincoln letter is fake, which disappoints Ruth. Bob starts playing Silent night on the piano, and Warren chats with Smithers. Warren reveals that he killed Smithers' son, and he puts a gun beside Smithers. This gets to Smithers and as he grabs the gun Warren shoots him dead. The others don't question the killing as it was self defense. But nobody else knew while Warren was revealing about Smithers' son, someone poisoned the coffee and Daisy saw it. Mannix is about to when OB and Ruth, after drinking the coffee, suddenly vomit blood and die. Ruth had time to warn Mannix about it. Daisy kills the dying Ruth, and Warren quickly control the situation. He rounds up the men as suspects, but dismisses Mannix as he almost drink the coffee himself. Warren reveals that he knows Minnie and her stew, that Minnie disliked Mexicans. Warren kills Bob then hell breaks lose as somebody in the basement opens fire, causing Mannix, Warren and Mobray getting shot.
The movie flips back to the morning before at Minnie's. Four passengers in a coach reach Minnie's. They are Joe Gage, Oswaldo Mobray, Bob and their gang leader Jody Domingray, Daisy's brother. They dispatched everybody else except an old man in order to keep the place's pretended mood. Back to the story so far, Mannix and Warren survives with grave wounds, pointing guns at the gang. Daisy and Gage is uninjured, so is Jody in the basement, while Mobray is also gravely injured. Warren and Mannix threaten to kill Daisy to lure Jody out, and kill him as he does. Daisy negotiates a deal with Mannix, offering Mobray's and Bob's bounty. Mobray backs Daisy's talk up, but Warren shoots him dead. In the commotion Gage reaches for a hidden gun but Warren and Mannix get to him first. Warren shoots at Daisy but he's out of bullets. Mannix keeps Daisy talking but eventually doesn't buy it. But he faints and Daisy goes for Gage's loaded gun. Mannix wakes up and shoots Daisy, disarming her. Warren says that they shouldn't just kill her. Instead they must hang her in honor of John Ruth who saved Mannix.
I got to say this December is surely a great month for it has some great movies worth the score 8 out of 10. The Hateful Eight (2015) surely deserves such a score. Story-wise it's an intriguing piece, very well done in the classic Tarantino style of storytelling. The story gets to be deeply character driven, offering seeds of mystery and suspicion all along the way. The twists and turns were laid out and positioned very well. The mood and pace did greatly in helping story to achieve critical mass.
Since the beginning, Tarantino movies have always had their strong part in the dialog. They effectively steer the scene, deepening the character introduction, and ultimately helping the audience let down their guard and anticipation for the surprises and twists to have maximum effect. I like how Tarantino have always make his movies have certain levels of humor, even amid bloody scenes. But it's exceptionally funny in this movie as there are more laugh spots spread across the movie.
Technically speaking, the movie displays great cinematography work. You can spot great timing direction that resulted in the long single shot at the very beginning. There are also classic camera angles and moving camera examples here and there, which are rarely found on westerns. The blood effects are really a signature of Quentin Tarantino movies. What's great to see here is that those blood work has been improved very well that they appear very grandiose. Maybe they look less realistic, but they sure look more artistic.
The acting work in overall is a great work. Samuel L. Jackson is just an essential part in a Tarantino movie. It's like not having him in one makes the movie feels awkward. Kurt Russell did great in adding into the fray, contributing very well to the movie's starting first half. Jennifer Jason Leigh did well enough in her character's concealment of the plot twist. What's bad about the cast is that we tend to see many old faces that frequent Tarantino movies. We have additions like Channing Tatum here, but the main cast only has Russell and Jason-Leigh as the new faces.
Nevertheless an 8 out of 10 score is rightfully deserving for this latest Quentin Tarantino movie. A recommendation goes out from me as I enjoyed this movie very much as I did Django, the Basterds, Kill Bill, and Pulp Fiction.