When putting together lists of the best Quentin Tarantino films of all-time, it proves to be something of an easier and rarer feat to tackle. Not only does the filmmaker have no real fluke in his filmography, but he’s also picky about the projects he chooses to direct, having infamously scrapped his planned tenth project, the unofficially named The Movie Critic, during its pre-production, having lost interest in it after enjoying the writing process. Which is what makes The Hateful Eight one of the most peculiar of his career. Encountering a rollercoaster development of beginning as a Django Unchained sequel before becoming its own story, Tarantino nearly did away with his film plans entirely after the script leaked online, only for a successful live reading of a previous draft with some of who would eventually be cast, namely frequent collaborators Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Madsen, changing his mind and getting things back on track. Though it may not have taken the world by storm when it hit theaters 10 years ago, The Hateful Eight felt like a true return to what made so many of Tarantino’s earlier films soar, which was a bigger focus on substance over style. In shifting away from solely trying to emulate the spaghetti Western genre in Django, the classic World War II thrillers of old with Inglourious Basterds, the grindhouse thrills of Death Proof or samurai cinema with his Kill Bill saga, the two-time Oscar winner delivered a more contained tale that successfully relied on its characters and dialogue to ratchet up the tension.
Less Visual Flash & Masterclass Performances From His Cast Make The Hateful Eight One Of Tarantino’s Best

If there’s one thing Tarantino has loved to do across his near-40-year career, it’s assemble a star-studded cast for a profane and violent romp, and The Hateful Eight is certainly no different. Bringing together everyone from frequent collaborators Jackson, Madsen, Tim Roth and Zoë Bell, to first-timers Jennifer Jason Leigh, Demián Bichir and Channing Tatum, the film sees a group of people who, through various circumstances, end up in a mountainside haberdashery during a blizzard at the same time a bounty hunter transporting a dangerous fugitive arrives to take shelter. From the film’s opening moments, Tarantino immediately shows a unique mixture of the restrained filmmaking techniques he employed for the likes of Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds with a gorgeous depiction of its wintry setting as Jackson’s Union Army vet-turned-bounty hunter patiently sits atop a pile of corpses while a wagon rides up to him. Allowing the camera, even in the occasional Dutch angle, to linger with a steady hand and affix itself to certain characters’ POVs proves a sneaky way to establish the early tension between characters, while also highlighting the very real natural elements they were enduring in this post-Civil War setting. No more evident is this subtly effective approach to the direction felt than when the characters, after a wagon ride complete with tense introductions and backstory sharing, arrive at the aforementioned haberdashery. Shot on a soundstage, Tarantino and three-time Oscar winner Robert Richardson (Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained) allow the camera to almost freely flow in parts through the contained setting to ensure every character’s presence is felt, while others nicely make it feel as a stage for any one cast member to tell their life’s story to the world.

That’s not to say it’s his best script, however, as there are certainly parts in which it feels Tarantino goes too far.

But beyond the subtler approach to the movie’s visual palette than his prior films, Tarantino’s script is what really makes The Hateful Eight such a gripping ride. Every conversation between the characters not only feels like a gradual rise in tension for their direct dynamics, but for the plot as a whole, as questions continue to abound as to who may be secretly working to help Leigh’s Daisy escape. One of the best scenes, in particular, is Jackson’s Marquis and Walton Goggins’ Mannix laying out their theories in what feels like a classic whodunnit, as even the theories that turn out wrong feel just as plausible with each character calling each other out. That’s not to say it’s his best script, however, as there are certainly parts in which it feels Tarantino goes too far. Much of Daisy’s role in the film feels as though she’s meant to be a venom-spewing punching bag rather than come with any kind of well-rounded arc or interesting layers. Even after Tarantino and Leigh’s defenses of wanting to make her on equal ground with the violence dealt to the male characters in the film, it still feels odd watching how violent Kurt Russell’s John Ruth is to her for most of his time.

Kurt Russell’s Ruth and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Daisy shouting with Bruce Dern’s Smithers covering his ear in pain in The Hateful Eight

The movie also doubles down on one of the more troubling aspects of some of Tarantino’s writing, which is the racist language included throughout The Hateful Eight. It’s hard to deny that, with its Western genre roots and post-Civil War setting, it’d be just as inappropriate to ignore the racism present as to address it, but as is the case with many of his other films, Tarantino sometimes feels like he’s venturing into exploitative territory with the free-flowing use of certain expletives and no-filter characters. One aspect of The Hateful Eight that always felt like it got too much criticism in its initial release was its runtime, and even a decade later, it feels as though some were too harsh on this front. Only two Tarantino movies have clocked in at under two hours, and it’s clear he does so out of a desire to squeeze every bit of creative juice he can from a story. With its theatrical cut clocking in at nearly three hours, Tarantino does just that with Hateful Eight, but with only a handful of scenes feeling extraneous, even on revisit, it’s hard to deny the movie isn’t deserving of its extra length.

A great example of such a scene is Marquis’ confrontation with Bruce Dern’s General Smithers, in which they reflect on being on opposite sides of a Civil War battlefield and the former’s fatal encounter with the latter’s son after said war. It could be argued that the way in which Marquis tells the tale of Smithers’ son is a little drawn-out, but if to think about it from Jackson’s character’s point of view, this is just one of many who he’d love to enact his vengeance upon for his and other Black peoples’ years of slavery torment. As such, it’s all the more sensible for him to want to relish the moment, and makes Smithers’ eventual drawing of a pistol the explosive end needed for the scene.

Samuel L. Jackson’s Warren looking intensely toward the camera while sitting a table with a revolver in front of him in The Hateful Eight

Working against critiques of the movie’s pace is also just how good The Hateful Eight’s cast are. Jackson delivers one of his career-best performances as the suspicious-yet-suave Marquis, while Russell and Leigh play hilarious foils to each other’s high energies, Madsen and Roth are coolly compelling as their suspect figures, Goggins goes from one of the more detestable to one of the more sympathetic of the bunch, and Bichir makes the most of his gruff-yet-minimal-dialogue part. It may certainly not live up to the same heights of Pulp Fiction or his Kill Bill saga, but it does too often feel like The Hateful Eight doesn’t get the attention it deserves amid Tarantino’s filmography. The tension simmers perfectly through the whole film, even after what appears to be the occasional reprieve, and with a cast at the top of their game, and direction that never feels like it’s distracting from the core excitement of the characters and dialogue, it’s an endlessly rewatchable treat.

Release Date

December 25, 2015

Runtime

188 minutes

Producers

Bob Weinstein, Georgia Kacandes, Harvey Weinstein, Richard N. Gladstein, Shannon McIntosh