The Hateful Eight Movie Review

The Hateful Eight (2015)

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Written by: Quentin Tarantino
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Bruce Dern, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen
Rated: R
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Plot
Trapped in a cabin during a blizzard, bounty hunters, a bounty, a sheriff, a hangman, a rancher, and more must survive each other.

Verdict
This movie is incredible. The script is amazing and the acting is sublime. It's such an incredibly well made movie where everything comes together so well. I regret I didn't see it in the theater. I want to rewatch immediately but at nearly three hours, that's not so easy. The last hour wasn't quite as good as the first, with a few decisions I found odd. It lost the momentum and tension the movie had been building.
Watch it.

Review
Showing off the 70mm film in the first few shots, the movie has a distinct and dated look. Even the credits and music mimic a spaghetti western. The music is very good.
The acting and dialog is phenomenal. How can you not like a Kurt Russell in a western? Just twenty minutes in, I felt like I was watching a masterpiece. 
A movie set for the most part in one room needs the dialog to carry, and this dialog, with the actors does. This is a one upmanship of which actor can outshine the others. Goggins always nails it and is impressive here. Nearly every actor in this could have been nominated for an acting award. This may be Tarantino's seminal work.

The distrust is palpable between the characters, and the approaching blizzard is foreboding. Nobody trusts anyone, each asking to see warrants and identification.
Kurt Russell and Samuel L. Jackson play bounty hunters headed to Red Rock. Russell has a bounty in tow, played by Jennifer Leigh cook. Goggins is proclaiming to be the new sheriff of Red Rock, though Russell claims he's a liar. The hang man of Red Rock is also in the cabin, with the stagecoach driver, the cabin's caretaker, an elderly Confederate general, and rancher.
The movie isn't without levity, with Confederate general played by Bruce Dern communicating to Jackson through Goggins, playing a game will you inform him, and will you tell him this, when the two men are standing right next to each other.
The question of the proprietor Minnie's location propels suspicion.

I regret I didn't see this in theaters, even if I wouldn't have been able to see the 70mm road show version. The film's distributors spent a million dollars to retrofit theaters and train projectionists to show the movie in the native 70mm format. Vintage cameras had to be sourced, as this format hasn't been used in decades.

Absolutely incredible, though a bit long.

The looming blizzards intensifies the level of danger and the feeling that anything could happen. The camera work is notable.
The last quarter begins with a narration from Tarantino. I didn't understand why. Is it so he could continue his cameo in every film he makes? The narration as intrusive and added nothing. It's easy to tell what's happening by watching the screen. The narration does point out a plot element that may have been missed, but it still felt like the wrong way to provide that information.
The movie becomes more mystery than thriller as we try to determine who betrayed the group.
It's difficult to keep such an intense pace for three hours after an intense shootout the movie delves into a bit of backstory that I found unnecessary. It's not bad, but it really slows down the relentless pace of the movie. It never regained the intense focus from the first two hours.
The ending is bleak, and not without surprises.

This is the same film that when an actor leaked the script a few years ago, Tarantino said he wouldn't make it. I'm glad he relented.