If there is one single thing that makes Quentin Tarantino’s
eighth film really worthwhile seeing it’s the riveting portrayal of the ‘Susan Atkins of the Wild
West’ Daisy Domergue a.k.a The Prisoner by Jennifer Jason Leigh. The Hateful Eight (2015) is split
into six chapters and we first meet Daisy in a stagecoach handcuffed to bounty
hunter John Ruth a.k.a The Hangman (Kirk
Russell) on their way to Red Rock where she is to be ‘hanged by the neck until dead’.
Delays to their trip are incurred when firstly Major Marguis Warren a.k.a The
Bounty Hunter (Samuel L Jackson) flags down the stagecoach to hitch a ride to
transport his three dead bounties and then ex Confederacy Officer Chris Maddox
(Walton Goggins) who is also on his way to Red Rock as the town’s new sheriff blags
a lift. Driving the stage is O.B. (James Park) who suggests because of the
impending snow blizzard that they rest up for a couple of days at a stop over
known as Minnie’s Haberdashery. Already
taking shelter there are Bob the Mexican (Demian Bichir), The Englishman
Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth) who is also the man due to hang Daisy, Joe Gage
(Michael Madsen) and the Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern) the
scene is now set for our story to develop and the normal amount of QT violence
to be discharged.
The Hangman. |
The Bounty Hunter. |
Tarantino’s second ‘western’ following 2012’s Django Unchained is a thriller in
the true sense of the word mimicking the great western B-movies of the past and
one that could easily be adapted as a stage play. It has a linear narrative
that veers between humour and action based violence along with some cracking
dialogue. The director who also wrote the story edited two versions of the
film, the one shown on general release and a twenty minute longer version
described as a road show version, which has an overture and an intermission! Filmed
in Telluride Colorado, its Tarantino's first film to use an original score, composed
by the master of the spaghetti western soundtrack Ennio Morricone. Regular cinematographer Robert Richardson
makes a grand job of the winter landscapes and the interior of the stagecoach
station where most of the action takes place. Contrary to the bad press due
mainly to its long running time, which for me was not a problem, I personally found
the movie engrossing, never for a minute boring, with an ensemble cast who like
other QT movies were totally believable - in a comic book sense of cause.
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