Slow to start, but classic Tarantino

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2016)

I had to sleep on this movie to deduce what rating I would give it. At the start, it was a solid 6. The end, nearly a ten. So now I've settled at around 8 - a great movie with a few things I'd have done differently.
The first two (even three) chapters of The Hateful Eight are a bit slow going. The roadcoach picks up passengers wandering in the wild and they banter. The dialogue is great but the movie slow. Having watched it without the 70mm film as intended, those long shots of blizzard stricken Wyoming was probably impressive but without them its just very slow going. The highlight of the first two chapters is a scene in which Kurt Russell's John Ruth reads SLJ's Marquis Warren's letter from Abraham Lincoln. Not only can you see the reverence in Ruth's eyes and face, you can feel the tension as you know something bad is going to happen. All throughout this movie, Tarantino knows exactly what to do to build suspense. One such scene, Warren asks Smithers if he can sit. How do you respond? Yes? No? Eff off? I suppose I can't stop you? Dern's cool and dignified "yes you may" is the perfect way to keep tension whilst still being a realistic answer from a racist Southern general to a black man.
Once we get to Minnie's the story gets exciting, culminating in an entertaining monologue from Warren to Smithers, taunting him about the fate of his son. The placement of a chess board, white on Dern's black on Jackson's, is a great visual aid considering their war history. It feels almost like a two-sided conversation thanks to Dern's terrific expressiveness in response to Jackson's impeccable delivery. You can feel the words sting him.
Tarantino's big twist is incredible but doesn't feel like a deus ex machina even thought it involves someone hiding beneath the floorboards. It takes us back to probably the best scene in the film, the Four Passengers segment, which is even more tense than the wedding in Kill Bill Volume 2 or the underground poker game in Inglourious Basterds. With Ennio Morricone's creepy score tingling at you, you watch the four cool gang members each line up a victim. The segment also introduces a number of points that make sense to us when we rewatch the film. We really get a sense of how the presence of Marquis and Chris ruined a well-laid plan. The film's climax is thrilling and absolutely wonderful, much better than the original ending in the leaked script.
The dialogue in the movie is wonderful, with classic Tarantino dialogue snapping off between characters. Well-established characters banter about matters that give us context on who they are and it is those differences which spike the tension throughout the movie. Of the Hateful Eight themselves, the standouts are Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggin and Tim Roth. Jackson delivers Tarantino's lines with the same energy that he did back in 1994 with Pulp Fiction. Walton Goggins is having an absolute blast as Chris Mannix, and ends up being the most likable character by the end of the film. He's funny, moronic and angry but you still get a sense that he's trying to prove himself from his father's shadow. Tim Roth delivers a brilliant monologue in the middle of the film, his disarming English accent splendid at making you look the other way. That's not to say that the rest of the 8 are weak links - Bichir probably gets the least to do, but its more than I expected. Dern I've already said is very good. Madsen is solid, and Leigh is excellent when she's allowed to excel. Most of her performance is reaction shots to blood being blasted into her face. At times she plays like a petulant child, at others a sadist. Unfortunately, I never took satisfaction from her demise because she hadn't done anything villainous enough. So she shot a man who was about to die anyway. We never learn about who she murdered - the revelation that she's in a gang is insufficient, because at least the others murder people in the movie. Kurt Russell is hit and miss - excelling in scenes involving the Lincoln letter, whether it's hurt at being deceived or reverence at being able to read it - but mostly he feels a bit like a caricature who does it a bit over the top.
The Hateful Eight is a great movie. I took issue with a few things - much is made of Minny hating Mexicans but she never even blinks when meeting Bob in the Four Passengers, the slow-motion language is a terrible artistic decision for an already slow movie, and the first two chapters could have been trimmed into one. However, the tension is unreal, the violence is sensational and I come away completely satisfied by the end product.