If you want peace, prepare for war. Granted, in The Hateful Eight, not all of Quentin Tarantino’s dastardly ensemble strive for to add a sense of serenity to their lives, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they’re each secretly preparing for war.
Set against the ice hills of Wyoming, Tarantino’s latest project – his eight feature, incidentally – orbits around the title group of bandits who are forced to batten down the hatches at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover, when a seemingly relentless blizzard comes barrelling down off the mountains. Confining such a sleazy group of volatile outlaws under the one roof is just about the furthest thing from a good idea as you can get, though as the latest trailer showcased, it makes for some damn fine entertainment.
Retaining the slick editing and razor-sharp dialogue that the director is celebrated for, The Hateful Eight will mainly focus on Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s characters, who are at the core of the movie as The Hangman and The Prisoner, respectively. Seeking safe passage across the mountains where Russell plans to put Leigh to the sword, their journey soon takes a turn for the über-violent when they come in contact with the titular group.
Russell, Leigh, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, and Demian Bichir will form The Hateful Eight when Quentin Tarantino’s latest opens in 70mm on Christmas Day, before expanding to standard theaters on January 8.
In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (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 (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (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 mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…
