THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2016) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

the hateful eight (2016) movie

Genre               |   Thriller

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |  187 minutes

Released         |   14 January 2016

cast

Kurt Russell as John Ruth
Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue
Walter Goggins as Sheriff Mannix​
Michael Madsen as Joe Gage
​Bruce Dern as General Smithers

director

Quentin Tarantino

writer

Quentin Tarantino

cinematographer

Robert Richardson

music

Ennio Morricone

film editor

​Fred Raskin

---

box office result

Worldwide             $155,760,117 ​

Australia                 $​​​5,442,442

North America        $​54,117,416      

---

the best dialogue

John 'The Hangman' Ruth: You only need to hang mean bastards, but mean bastards you need to hang!

John 'The Hangman' Ruth: One of them fellas is not... what he says he is.

Joe Gage: A bastard's work is never done.

---

THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2016) IMAGES

THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2016) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Some time after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. Bounty hunter John Ruth and his fugitive captive Daisy Domergue race towards the town of Red Rock, where Ruth will bring Daisy to justice. Along the road, they encounter Major Marquis Warren (an infamous bounty hunter) and Chris Mannix (a man who claims to be Red Rock's new sheriff). Lost in a blizzard, the bunch seeks refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery. When they arrive they are greeted by unfamiliar faces: Bob, who claims to be taking care of the place while Minnie is gone; Oswaldo Mobray, the hangman of Red Rock; Joe Gage, a cow puncher; and confederate general Sanford Smithers. As the storm overtakes the mountainside, the eight travelers come to learn that they might not make it to Red Rock after all...

THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2016) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 8 January 2016
​Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 THE HATEFUL EIGHT, the 8th film by Quentin Tarantino (as proclaimed by the film’s opening credits), surely lives up to its name, as Hollywood’s most adventurous auteur harkens back to his RESERVOIR DOGS roots to deliver a potboiler of a story that embraces its violence with the same warmth and vigour that the writer-director embraces the Cinerama 65mm format uses to share this blood-soaked tale with the viewer. While fans of Tarantino’s work may regard THE HATEFUL EIGHT as a continuation of his DJANGO UNCHAINED “Western” genre reinvention, there’s more going on in this movie than the casual moviegoer may understand or acknowledge. In his own unique fashion, Tarantino’s eighth film appears to be his most damning commentary on the state of both race and gender relations within present-day America.

Tarantino cleverly sets his story in the remote mountains of Wyoming, at the southern edge of The Rocky Mountains, some years after the end of the American Civil War, ensuring that any contemporary criticism of his modus operandi can be disarmed with the “the frontier was a brutal place for everyone” defence. John Ruth (Kurt Russell) is transporting accused murderer Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to the town of Red Rock, where he’ll collect the $10,000 bounty and watch her hang by neck. The story is broken into six chapters, each with its own heading. “Chapter One: Last Stage to Red Rock” sees Ruth’s stagecoach pick up some not-so-welcome passengers, as the Bounty Hunter and his catch struggle to stay ahead of the blizzard lashing at their backs. Major Maquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) and  Chris Mannix (Walter Goggins), each in their own way, make Ruth suspicious that either one is planning to kill him and collect Domergue’s bounty for himself. The stakes are raised further with the quartet’s arrival at Minnie’s Haberdashery, stagecoach lodge, that provides a haven from the elements.

Jackson’s Major Maquis Warren is immediately suspicious upon arriving at Minnie’s when the proprietor and her husband are not present to meet Ruth’s stagecoach and are instead greeted by Bob the Mexican (Demian Bichir); a character who immediately appears out-of-place in the remote mountain setting. Once inside the lodge, Warren and Ruth are confronted by a motley band, each of whom has an elaborate story as to how and why they came to be at Minnie’s. Oswald Mobray (Tim Roth), Joe (Michael Madsen), and Confederate General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern) all seem oddly out-of-place, but it’s not until Warren’s soliloquy of vengeance at the climax of “Chapter Three: Minnie’s Haberdashery” that the story narrows its focus and transforms into a plot-driven piece, utilising a series of gut-wrenching set-pieces to ratchet up the tension and propel the film to its conclusion.

Prior to filming THE HATEFUL EIGHT, Tarantino stated publicly that he would not cast any “stars” in the movie, as the story was very much an ensemble and required actors who could bounce of each other’s performances. Tarantino populates THE HATEFUL EIGHT with actors that he has worked with previously and obviously trusts them to deliver his vision for him. In terms of performance, Russell and Jackson deliver the “big” performances, but the ensemble makes sure their scenery-chewing never descends into pantomime. Jennifer Jason Leigh takes all the punishment she is meted like a trooper, but it’s the likes of Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and James Parks (as Stagecoach driver O.B.), whose supporting turns make the film and entertaining watch right up to the point where Tarantino flicks the violence switch. “Chapter Five: The Four Passengers” also introduces an entirely new set of characters into the story, as Tarantino the writer opts to fall-back on his old non-linear narrative technique and give the viewer some insight into the events that transpired at Minnie’s prior to Ruth, Demergue, Warren and Mannix’s arrival. The introduction of Minnie (Dana Gourrier), Six-Horse Judy (Zoe Bell), Sweet Dave (Gene Jones) and others is extremely well written and, for a sequence that could have been extremely derivative, provides both exposition and context for the viewer for the movie’s “Last Chapter: Black Man, White Hell”.


While some viewers may find the subject matter confronting, great care is taken to ensure THE HATEFUL EIGHT is a true “cinematic” experience. The decision to use the Ultra Panavision 70 format (with its 2.76:1 aspect ratio) provides image width and detail that hasn’t been seen since the release of KHARTOUM in 1966! Cinematographer Robert Richardson does a tremendous job and the images he and Tarantino manage to capture is an extraordinary achievement. It’s not very often the viewer can see the individual snowflakes of a blizzard passing by the camera lense with such clarity, but it certainly happens in this film. Throw in Ennio Morricone’s impressive, menacing score and THE HATEFUL EIGHT is a rich, must-see movie experience. A note of caution… Don’t be lulled by the richness of the images, Tarantino is trying to tell all of us that we can’t avoid the ugly truth because it will always catch up with us.

digital updates delivered

facebook

instagram