Merely decent

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2016)

A winter storm sweeps through the mountainous Wyoming valley as eight individuals shelter in a log cabin. Each person seems upfront and friendly, but not all of them are who they claim to be. The characters include John Ruth (Kurt Russell), a bounty hunter bringing in Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) a crazy little minx, to hang; Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), also a bounty hunter collecting some reward money, a town sheriff (Walter Goggins), the town's hangman (Tim Roth), a former colonel (Bruce Dern), and the cabin's caretaker (Damien Bicher). In a "who done it" storytelling fashion, the characters figures out the hidden truths and turn on another one.
Writer and director Quentin Tarantino approaches his eighth film like a play. He takes his time unraveling the story as the characters engage in idle conversations through the blustery storm. QT is a master of witty dialog and has a talent where he can have his characters talk endlessly about irrelevant matters to the movie's plot, yet remain entertaining and enthralling. While this worked flawlessly in "Inglourious Basterds" and "Django Unchained," in "The Hateful Eight" it drags the story out longer than necessary. After awhile, the dialog feels very long-winded. If Tarantino wanted to emphasize the boredom of being secluded in a cabin during a storm, he certainly achieves that. There are still some very well written scenes though, such as a reoccurring gag where each character asks John Ruth why he is bringing Daisy in alive when it is just simpler to shoot her in the back. The punch line, "It's too much work to bring 'em in alive" will go down as a classic Tarantino movie line.
Without giving too much more away, the "surprise" twist is very predictable. In Tarantino style, people die gruesomely. Shot, stabbed, hanged, poisoned, bled to death, take your pick. Unlike other QT movies where the violence seems justified, "The Hateful Eight" depicts violence just for the sake of it. The last on-camera death specifically displays a disturbing act of pure sadism. I never really felt uncomfortable watching a Tarantino movie. This one actually bothered me a little.
There are some more worthwhile factors that "The Hateful Eight" offers. Shot in 70mm film, the landscape shots pay homage to the old Westerns. Cinematographer Robert Richardson has once again shown his talent as one of Hollywood's greatest DPs. Ennio Morricone's score is haunting to say the least, but also has the soul he created from the Spaghetti Westerns. Both are probably in luck for some Oscar nominations this year.
To sum up, "The Hateful Eight" is merely decent. The acting is good. The technical skills are phenomenal. But the story is weak, but fortunately has some of the flare QT that audiences have seen before, just not enough to make another masterpiece.