As Tarantino films go, this one's near the bottom

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2017)

The main sensation that one comes away with having watched THE HATEFUL EIGHT, Quentin Tarantino's newest film, is a sense of disappointment. It's not that this is a particularly poor film - it's far better than DEATH PROOF, for example - it's just that it's so, well, average. Tarantino is capable of so much more and you won't find it here. THE HATEFUL EIGHT is an Agatha Christie-style mystery set inside a snowy cabin with a blizzard going on outside and a cast of suspicious characters inside.
The story sounds interesting and it is. The best thing about it is Tarantino's direction, which is still second to none and really the only reason to keep watching through some of the worst moments. The worst thing about it is Tarantino's own script, which really needed the services of an editor to turn it into something workable. The whole first hour and a half of this movie is a deathly dull set-up in which very little happens and long stretches of boredom threaten to send the viewer to sleep.
I appreciate that Tarantino likes the slow burner, but slow burners need suspense and in that respect THE HATEFUL EIGHT falls far behind similar moments in RESERVOIR DOGS or INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. Not only do we have to wait around forever once we get to the cabin, but there's that whole extra first half an hour on the stage coach which is quite ridiculous. Another big problem is a whole half-hour sub-plot involving Bruce Dern's extraneous character which culminates in a crude sexual joke that seems to have been written by Tarantino in the mindset of a teenage boy. All that effort, all that money, and this is the best he can do? Not only that, but it has no relation to the main plot of the film and needed excising, along with Dern himself.
Still, there are flashes of the old Tarantino magic here, and the last part of the film, in which things actually start happening and the cast start dying, is good stuff, reminiscent of RESERVOIR DOGS at its best. There are lots of surprisingly gruesome special effects which seem to have been inspired by those in the EVIL DEAD remake and turn this into a horror film in places. Tarantino has also assembled some great actors including Kurt Russell and Samuel L. Jackson, the latter of whom gives a fine performance which is the best in the movie. It's also good to have Tim Roth and Michael Madsen back from the old days. Jennifer Jason Leigh has a difficult part but comes across well and it's only minor performers like the awkward Zoe Ball who disappoint. Kudos too to Walton Goggins, finally excelling in a main role after years and years of bit parts and minor work.