Review: The Hateful Eight

Set some time after the Civil War, brutish bounty hunter John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth (Kurt Russell) reluctantly shares a stagecoach with rival bounty hunter Maj. Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson). Ruth is travelling with his latest bounty, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Soon they and their stagecoach driver (James Parks) are joined by dopey Southerner Mannix (Walton Goggins) who claims he’s the new sheriff. The coach eventually has to stop at a place called Minnie's Haberdashery, due to a huge blizzard. Inside our travellers find a Mexican (temporary) caretaker named Senor Bob (Demian Bichir), grouchy old racist Confederate Gen. Smithers (Bruce Dern), a British hangman named Mobray (Tim Roth), and a laconic, brooding cattle hand named Joe Gage (Michael Madsen) who just wants to be left alone. Death, paranoia, confrontation, and lots of talk ensues, the details of which are best left discovered by the viewer.

I wouldn’t say I’m quite a Quentin Tarantino fan, but lately I’ve found myself liking his films more often (“Kill Bill vol. 1 & 2”, “Inglourious Basterds”, “Django Unchained”) than not (“Pulp Fiction”, “Death Proof”, which I still wouldn’t have liked as part of “Grindhouse”). However, I was a bit hesitant in seeing this 2015 epic western talkfest because to me it seemed like it just wouldn’t work. It looked like a cross between a Sam Peckinpah directed version of “Stagecoach” and a seriously talky Agatha Christie play/mystery (though Tarantino cites John Carpenter’s remake of “The Thing” as a chief influence, with co-star Kurt Russell and composer Ennio Morricone in tow). And even in its shortened version, running almost 3 hours long to boot.

Well, for the most part I actually did enjoy the film but it’s definitely a step back from his masterwork, “Django Unchained”. I’m not sure why a mostly single set film needed to be shot in 70mm, but when we do get to see the scenery captured by Robert Richardson (“Platoon”, “JFK”, “Hugo”), it’s amazing. Typical of Peckinpah (and no doubt intentional on QT’s part), Richardson lenses some beautiful but harsh, uncompromising snowy scenery that lets you know that this is a worldview not made for tenderfoots or the meek. It might be far from his best work, but composer Ennio Morricone (“For a Few Dollars More”, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, “The Untouchables”) nonetheless delivers a solid and seriously underrated score that immediately impresses with a sense of impending dread.

The cast are pretty top-notch, which is essential for what is essentially a nearly 3 hour talk-fest. Kurt Russell’s pronunciation of the name Domergue as ‘Dahm-er-goo’ pretty much tells you he’s resurrecting the John Wayne schtick he gave us in the brilliant “Big Trouble in Little China”, just with a little more intelligence. In fact, it reminded me a little of John Wayne pronouncing ‘Monsieur’ as ‘Mon-Sewerrrrrrr’ in “The Comancheros”), which is hilarious whether an intentional homage by Russell and QT or not (Given that QT is a film buff and Wayne appeared in “Stagecoach”, I’m gonna go with ‘intentional’). An underrated actor, Russell’s in fine swaggering a-hole form here as a seriously brutal bounty hunter who gives no fucks about punching his female prisoner to shut her up. Russell, who was the best thing in “Death Proof” by far, feels at home in the western genre and is probably the acting highlight of the film for me. He also looks like he’s having a hoot and a half. The next-best performance for me comes from Walton Goggins, who is a riot. He’s perfect at playing a comedic dumb arse, though his character eventually suggests a little more depth as the film goes along. I swear Goggins is a bee’s dick away from doing something truly amazing on film. I used to say all the time that I found Jennifer Jason Leigh to be a ‘terminally depressed’ actress, and I couldn’t stand her. Well, after being quite good in “Synecdoche, New York” here I have to say in her Oscar-nominated turn that she’s perfectly cast and clearly enjoying herself being thoroughly horrible (Though I highly doubt she was having fun getting punched so often). In what is essentially the lead role, Samuel L. Jackson is given yet another interesting character to play by QT and he delivers a rock-solid performance as a guy who has killed way too many men to really be considered a ‘good guy’. Take that title seriously, as there are no good guys here. Jackson’s Maj. Marquis Warren is, however the film’s chief protagonist and basically QT’s version of Hercule Poirot as a murdering African-American bounty hunter. Jackson’s great orating skills are put to very good use in this dialogue-heavy film, and he tells a helluva story to Bruce Dern’s character at one point that is pure QT sadistic glee. As for the inimitable Dern, he’s in a perfectly ornery fuckin’ mood from his first moment to his last as a cranky, racist General. Also worthy of a mention are Michael Madsen and Tim Roth. Michael Madsen being Michael Madsen never gets old for me, and despite his innocent story/alibi, you’re just waiting for the laconic, lazy-looking bastard to do something shifty. Or is that just he and QT misdirecting you? I’ll never tell. I don’t know why Tim Roth is doing a Christoph Waltz impersonation here, but it’s a pretty good one and he’s good fun.

As much as I don’t think Channing Tatum’s casting quite works in his small but pivotal role, for me the only acting dud was actually Demian Bichir. He’s far too phony and silly from moment one, and stands out like a sore thumb, really. Speaking of standing out like a sore thumb, QT himself serves as narrator…for one scene. His playful narration is cute, but arrives more than halfway through the film out of nowhere. It just doesn’t fit nor seem necessary. I also think some of the wind is taken out of the film’s sails before it reaches its conclusion.

Is the film too slow? Yeah. Is it boring? Nope. The performances are mostly terrific, most of the dialogue is interesting, and credit where it is due, I didn’t pick the mystery at the film’s centre. This is imperfect but a whole lot better than I had feared. It looks amazing, so it’s a shame that QT didn’t open the story up more. Still a pretty good film.

Rating: B-