Hateful Eight, The (3/29/2016)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, a scene of violent sexual content, language and some graphic nudity.

Starring Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Demian Bichir, Bruce Dern and Channing Tatum

Directed Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained)

If you’ve seen any Quentin Tarantino film, you know what to expect.

In The Hateful Eight, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stage-coach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a moun-tain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Demian Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s vis-iting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all.

Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight may be a lot of things, but boring isn’t one of them.

Is it long? Yes. Is it skillfully made and at times, even oddly beautiful? Yes. Is it fun, shocking and extremely violent? Very much so.

We all know that Tarantino’s trademark is showing the audience what extreme violence looks and sounds like and then going another giant step further just for shock value.

Besides a lot of blood and a lot of profanity, Tarantino gathers his “regulars” to star in this post-civil war western. Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen have be-come staples in Tarantino films and are incredibly entertaining as always. Kurt Russell and Walton Goggins are over-the-top but in the most positive ways, but its Jennifer Ja-son Leigh who steals the show.

Despite the gore, this film actually has a really clever story. There is a classic “who done it” element that keeps the audience guessing as well as the classic Tarantino time-juggling trick that reveals what’s really going on.

Because The Hateful Eight is a true Tarantino film, I cannot give it a score higher than a “Rental.”

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
That would be a no. The movie is extremely violent and graphic. There are also over 25 F-words, 70 N-words and plenty of other profanity.

CONVERSATION STARTER:

1. Why are John and Daisy headed to Red Rock?


2. Why is Daisy sentenced to hang?

Read Zechariah 7:9

So once again, I, the Lord All-Powerful, tell you, “See that justice is done and be kind and merciful to one another!”


3. Is John living out Zechariah 7:9? Why or why not?


4. How can we live out justice and still be kind and merciful to one another?