Hateful Eight

Genre: Mystery, Historical
Rating: 18
Warning: Intense Gore, Intense Racism

The eighth Tarantino film (presumably not counting 1987's "My Best Friend's Birthday", which makes it nine), this is a detour from many of his signature tropes and a definite epic. However, while he has stepped aside from his visual style, his obsessive use of the n word is still firmly in place; prepare yourself for an uncomfortable and in depth look at racism in the real life western setting. His love of gore is still strong, too, so be prepared for that.

If you can deal with those things, there are near-gratuitous sweeping shots of absurdly beautiful snowy landscapes and an abundance of tiny background details in indoor scenes to make up for it. With great fame comes great ability to get genuine antiques and mountains of props, it seems.

The plot is mostly linear, with occasional and clear flashback scenes, and takes place over a couple of days in one large room. The mysterious back stories, goals and even identities of the characters all build into the larger mystery as the one-room mystery meets gritty western. You know less than the main characters and piece things together slowly, suspecting them themselves as much as you follow their suspicion of others. Every small plot twist is sudden and unexpected, but reveals much about the previous events.

By the end of the film you'll be arguing with yourself about which characters are the real hateful eight - by the start of the main plot there are nine characters present, for one thing. No character is particularly likable, except some minor characters in flashbacks, but this film teeters between having a wholly hateful cast and justifying or minimising the hatefulness of some. Easily defined characters are not what Hateful is really going for, despite it's title, and the nuance of their hatefulness makes each character believable and intriguing.

If you're a diehard Tarantino fan, or watching because you admire his individual style, this isn't going to be your favourite of his films, but it is a great film. It's quite the filmography to live up to, and it deserves it's place. Seeing a Tarantino film in the cinema was a personal goal, having a blood phobia as I do, but the violence might mean this is better suited for home viewing.