Tarantino does mystery with western trappings

Rating: 8/10 (25 May 2019)

Following 2012's "Django Unchained", Quentin Tarantino once again returned to the American west for his next feature, "The Hateful Eight". With a title reminiscent of "The Magnificent Seven", you might expect a rip-roaring yarn chock full of action. However, the movie actually owes much more to mystery novels by the likes of Agatha Christie than it does to traditional Hollywood westerns. The narrative even follows a literary structure which includes some narration from Tarantino himself.
The titular eight are a group of nefarious individuals brought together in a cabin by a snowstorm. Two of the most prominent of these are a bounty hunter and his notorious prisoner who carries a price of $10,000 on her head. It isn't long before suspicions arise that one or more of the others might have a stake in seeing that this prisoner doesn't get brought to justice. There are shades of John Carpenter's "The Thing" in this setup, which probably isn't just a coincidence.
Despite being more of a mystery than a western, "The Hateful Eight" is nevertheless a more traditional Hollywood depiction of the west than "Django Unchained". That being said, the snowbound setting and the strong mystery angle give the movie a unique flavour. I can't really think of any other western quite like this. Tarantino's script has his trademark mix of violence and impeccable dialogue which in this case is in service of a well constructed mystery plot. The movie is dialogue heavy due to the confined setting limiting the amount of action taking place but it does move along fairly briskly. Still, the extended length (nearly three hours) will likely try the patience of some viewers.
As always, the casting is excellent. Several vets from past Tarantino movies returned here including Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Walton Goggins and Bruce Dern. That's a great starting point and then you throw in Jennifer Jason Leigh, who ended up getting an Oscar nomination for what is arguably the movie's most memorable performance. To me, the movie harks back to "Reservoir Dogs" by having a relatively small cast strutting their stuff in a confined setting.
Tarantino's direction is flawless, as usual. That being said, he somewhat confusingly decided to go through the considerable effort of using 70mm photography for this picture, which was mostly wasted on an interior set. That approach would have been better suited to "Django Unchained", which had more varied environments. Be that as it may, the visuals are consistently attractive. However, they're overshadowed by Ennio Morricone's moody score, which is one of the movie's strongest points (and also the winner of an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA).
Ultimately, "The Hateful Eight" doesn't quite stack up to Tarantino's best efforts but it's still a good movie. It contains some interesting commentary on race relations along with a subversion of typical feminist tropes whereby in this case we're treated to a strong female villain instead of a hero. I'm not sure how well it stands up to repeated viewings because of the whole mystery angle but it's intricate enough that you probably won't remember all the twists and turns of the plot.