Tension, atmosphere and gore

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 2016)

As a whole this film feels almost like a parody of a Tarantino film. But in a good way. It's definitely the one where he takes his directorial style the furthest, separating his normal mannerisms and segments clearly from one another, allowing us to enjoy them on their own, and making this feel almost like two films. The calm one at the start with nothing but conversations and character building, and the ultraviolent second one with blood, guts and gore spraying on the walls.
It feels premeditated and a bit too clear cut for my personal tastes, but I cannot deny that it works. The first half of this film is intense, with a group of travellers getting trapped inside a mountain trading shop during a blizzard. One of them is a bounty hunter (Kurt Russell) escorting a prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to the next town over to be hanged. And all the rest of them are hiding secrets as well. Secrets which start to unravel as the night passes.
It's a very dialogue-heavy movie, which is great because Tarantino has once again pulled in an ensemble cast. We haven't seen Russell in anything that significant in years, but he is one of the best actors in this film by a wide margin. Gruff, determined with a mean streak mile wide, but even wider code of ethics, jaded and grim though they are. Leigh is also a shining character, with an Oscar nomination well-earned. But it's Samuel L. Jackson playing another bounty hunter that once again steals the whole show. Every scene he's in is captivating, intense and frightening beyond belief.
Pretty much the only real nitpick I have is that I kind of hope the story had played out a bit differently. The early talk about this movie had us believe that Tarantino was going to direct a classic closed room murder mystery, with one of the characters getting axed off and the rest of the film being the characters trying to find out who the murderer is. Now, that's close to what we end up getting, but still far enough that I cannot help but feel a little bit disappointed. Because can you imagine Quentin Tarantino directing a classic murder mystery straight out of Agatha Christie books. It would have been amazing.
Nevertheless, it's a great film. Not one of Tarantino's best, but still heads and shoulders above its peers and well worth a watch for all fans of action, western and mystery.