The Hateful Eight is exactly what you would expect from a Tarantino film – razor sharpe dialogue, fabulous characterisation, OTT violent shoot-outs with bursts of laugh-out-loud humour.
Wyoming in the midst of winter blanketed in snow is the setting, providing magnificent vistas for this bloody western that is both sprawling and intimate, with most of the action taking place in Minnie’s Haberdashery. The eight are holed up due to the snow storm and, like a staged whodunit, the characters slowly reveal themselves for who they really are.
Tarantino regular Samuel L Jackson is, as ever, a joy, Walton Goggins a revelation and Jennifer Jason Leigh worthy of her Oscar nom for best supporting actress.
Too claustrophobic to be a ‘western’ in the true sense of the word, The Hateful Eight is a hugely entertaining piece of filmed theatre.
Nominated for 3 Oscars in 2016 (Jennifer Jason Leigh and Robert Richardson, cinematography), won 1 (Ennio Morricone – soundtrack)
Rating: 79%
Director: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained, Jackie Brown)
Writer: Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill 1 & 2)
Main cast: Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained), Walton Goggins (Django Unchained, TV’s The Shield), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Kill Your Darlings, Road to Perdition), Kurt Russell (Bone Tomahawk, Escape From New York),
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