The Hateful Eight

This is a fine piece of storytelling - a mystery, western, and political drama - all artfully melded together by a seasoned crew and talented actors.

The action is set in antebellum Wyoming, in the heart of a raging blizzard, in a frontier bar. Setting is very important here.

The period is meaningful for the political currents that flow in nearly all the characters. Feelings about the American civil war are very up-front, with complicit atrocity present in nearly all the characters. The war brought out horrible things in these people, and we see how they deal with that shared knowledge, both personally and to each other.

The blizzard provides the necessary isolation to the story. These characters are stuck with each other, and this forced closeness is central to the story - they're all Hateful, and that hate reverberates among them, destroying peace and hope. Hate is what brings them together and hate is what tears them apart. The blizzard also provides some interesting incidental elements that are fascinating to watch, like the hardship of a simple task like preparing guidelines, or going to the outhouse, and the cold hell explodes inward at times (when the door is opened) with punctuating effect, providing some breaks to the narrative, and even some needed laughs.

And the bar... This film's action takes place primarily in one large room. It feels very much like a stage play (as another reviewer mentioned), allowing greater intimacy with the characters and their interactions, while providing us with an opportunity to witness multiple scenarios unfolding at the same time. This density of action is very cool. We are afforded third person omniscience without losing connection with the motives and perspectives of the players.

And the stage setting meshes very integrally with the acting. We see the principal actors doing top-notch with not only their primary motivational actions, but nearly every choice in blocking and busy action. The director and production team make a very wise choice in showing the small little details of what's going on here. Attention is paid to realistic procedural actions, and reactions, for these details. The result is that we see characters behaving in reasonable ways to their environments, pausing to disarm a stranger, or undo a shackle, not simply because the plot calls for it, but because it's a reasonable choice that they would make at the time. Very refreshing to see, actually.

On the negative side, Tarrantino's choice to use narration was weakly executed. I don't know if there would have been a way to do this without narration, but the actual usage detracted from the ongoing story. Also, there were a few points in the action where the characters seemed to be a little too accepting of the events that transpire around them. This is purely a fault of direction/writing.

But overall, a very watchable film, that is notably unafraid to portray some very dirty and uncomfortable bits of the human psyche. Some folks seem to have an issue with this last part. My advice to them is to loosen up a bit and accept art that hurts a little. That's one of the things good art can do.

There's a bounty hunter ploughing through the snow, wherever he moves Daisy Domergue moves too, but they need a place to stay, until the storm has gone away, Minnie's cabin's quite close by, so there they go. Before arriving they encounter men adrift, a Major and a Sheriff cadge a lift, but there is tension in the air, mistrust, suspicion and despair, chains are attached; and shackled round loose wrists. At the cabin there are others taking cover, four lone strangers it transpires don't know each other, but they settle for the night, although you know there'll be a fight, and more than one will be impaired, and truly suffer.

Plenty of hate spews forth as well as a number of other less palatable projectiles, but you'd be disappointed if they didn't from the master of magnificent movies.

I never saw this film back when it was released in 2015. But, I did manage to buy a copy of Blu-Ray. Now, when I first saw it, I thought this movie was flawless/perfect. I now know that no movie despite what anyone may say, is perfect. But I am firm believer that this is in fact Quinton Tarantino's most underrated and under-appreciated film. Everyone I've talked to, says the Hateful Eight isn't Tarantino's most re-watchable film. I disagree. With a phenomenal cast that really gets into their characters. Each one stands out and not one is forgetful. Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell are the stars of this film and it shows. Their performances (in my opinion) were Oscar worthy. Don't even get me started on the story. This is basically a Who-Done-It play turned into a film. The complexity of this story should make the audience feel confused and turn their heads going, "what the hell is happening?". But it does the exact opposite. Everything flows perfectly. The pacing of this film, while it is almost 3 hours, it doesn't feel like it. The cinematography is great. The score brings tension and makes the audience uneasy. But I think my favorite thing of this film, is the scenery. Having these 8 characters who all hate each other, trapped by a blizzard. Really builds up the tension of the catastrophe that is coming. The only thing that is working against this film is the lengthy setup shots at the beginning of the movie. The first five minutes of the film is plagued by it and those tend to drag on. Beyond that, everything about this film is great.

The film is too well crafted to get the really low scores, the cinematography is too good, the acting too high caliber, the direction too solid, the score too nice, and the flick too engaging for such ratings.

This also applies to the other end. The "twists" are unimportant and add no spice, the pacing just slogs along, the joy too nonexistent, the characters evoke too little emotion either way, the story too light on satisfaction, the story telling too inconsistent, the length too needless,the magic (other than on the technical side) too absent, and the rewatchability too minimal for me to see greatness but maybe a second viewing will change my perspective but it will definitely be on video for me, only the lure of a hot date fixated on going could get me into the theater again other than maybe just for the experience a 70mm screening.

I'm a pretty avid Tarrentino fan but I didn't overly enjoy this effort. I more appreciate it and can't say I wasn't engaged but I also can't say that I'm eager to see it again and worse for the first time I have little inclination to do so with a flick by Q.

A generous 7/10 (rounding up from 6.5) for me but I could see ceiling of 8 and a basement of 4 at the lowest.

I was a bit sceptical about watching the movie, judging by reviews online and some friends who watched it,but in the end I really liked it.The acting was great .The story was very intriguing with the whole "Murder Mystery" theme.Another plus was the score by the one and only Ennio Morricone.The cinematography was also brilliant especialy with all the breathtaking sceneries in the early part.My only promblem was that the violence was a bit too extreme in some parts,but it is a Tarantino movie so this was expected.Overall it was a good movie that I will definately rewatch it.