Tarantino's eight feature film, and his second Western, is potentially both the director's most ambitious film and his most intimate, using the widescreen format of Ultra Panavision 70 to often devastating effect. A spiritual and chronological successor to Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight details the exploits and interactions of eight strangers, who, on their way to Red Rock, are waylaid by a snowstorm and forced to seek refuge in the nearby shelter of Minnie's Haberdashery. These are, in order of appearance, bounty hunter John Ruth "The Hangman" (Kurt Russell), his unwilling captive, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Union Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), Sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), Senòr Bob (Demiàn Bichir), English executioner Oswaldo Mowbray (Tim Roth), cowpoke Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and former Confederate General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern), each with their own motivations, and, in some cases, secrets. Post Civil War tensions are high, with characters differing in opinion and, in Jackson's case at least, race, who, wielding a letter from President Lincoln like a paper shield, defends himself against a barrage of spite, vitriol and prejudice, predominately directed at him by both Goggins and Dern, the latter whom shares an intense verbal face-off with Jackson at the conclusion of the first act, a masterwork in acting, direction, cinematography, and of course, writing.
As always with Tarantino, it is in the film's script that The Hateful Eight really shines, with some sections of dialogue reaching a level of esteemed brilliance on par with that of the director's masterwork, Pulp Fiction. This, partnered with Ennio Morricone's superb original score, a first for Tarantino, gives the film a flavour all its own, making it unique amongst both the director's previous work and within its genre. Stylistically, the film really shines, with QT's trademark attention to detail doing wonders for both set and costume design, every minute aspect of the characters and their surroundings brought to life through excellent cinematography, particularly in the transitions between both deep and shallow focus.Equally as brilliant is Jackson, doing Tarantino's prose (frontier) justice and giving a career best performance to boot, while the rest of the cast give it their all, constantly at loggerheads with one another, Goggins, Roth and Russell in particular an absolute delight to watch. Indeed, you often feel as if the cast, and by extension, Tarantino, aren't having even more fun than their audience, barbed witticisms and bullets flying back and forth between cast members with gleeful exuberance. If the film's climactic action sequence doesn't quite live up to nearly two hours of intense build-up, the sense of cathartic relief delivered in it's final moments more than make up for it, as Tarantino's latest group of basterds finally get what's coming to them...