Quentin meets Sergio and Ingemar

Rating: 9/10 (10 August 2016)

Imagine if 3 great directors (Tarantino, Leone and Bergman decided to pick and choose from their well known themes to create a Western version of a Russian wooden doll. Within are smaller dolls each one with a different yet similar twist to the story.
While the choice of music was somewhat plodding (except during the credits by Roy Orbison), both the interior of the way station and the exterior snowy blizzard outside add to the tension and dialog of the actors. I can quite imagine this being presented on stage with little loss of momentum in the story line.
The introduction scenes are straight out of a Sergio Leone classic. Almost expected Eastwood appearing as in Pale Rider with religious icons surrounding his appearance. Instead Samuel Jackson reprises his swagger and style made famous in Pulp Fiction and Snakes on a Plane. If you like this, then Hateful Eight is your glass of whiskey.
Jason Leigh knocks it out of the park. I have not seen such abuse of a woman on screen treated with such indifference by the males in the story. Yet her ability to balance catty wit with female physical pain is like watching a train collision in slow motion.
Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and Bruce Dern play themselves adding some but not much color to the plot . Kurt Russell however, exposes a few old tricks that make his the most memorable role. Both Jackson and Russell get to spar with some delicious dialog that makes you pause.
The story, once unfolded to the last doll is a bit thin. Tarantino covers up this deficiency with his usual bloody scenes of gore, which I think is his one weakness as a director. Every actor gets to play some form of wounded human - guns, knives, bottles - the usual stuff.
The writing is excellent though the N word gets to replace the F word in every scene. Not sure if that was an important motif to get the point across of the denigration of black Americans during and after the civil war. A little overdone but provides fodder for Samuel to strut his excellent delivery style. His face alone in one scene, silent and watching, is something most actors cannot repeat.
This is a film you need to watch twice. First time to see the story unfold. The second time to pick one or two actors and focus on how they play their roles. In my opinion, this film was much better than the Revenant due to the acting, which rescues the film's meager story.