Credit: Netflix

When people talk about movies directed by Quentin Tarantino, the same titles keep coming up again and again. It’ll either be Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained or Inglourious Basterds, which are the big crowd favourites and just sit on the tips of most people’s tongues. However, you’ll meet very few who name The Hateful Eight, and if they do, you’ve met a true Tarantino fan.

In all fairness, this film deserves to be mentioned in that breath a lot more often, because once you sit down with this film and give it your time, you start realising Tarantino has basically taken a very simple idea and shaped it into a tense and talky story. Here, all you get is a bunch of dangerous strangers stuck in one place during a snowstorm and… that’s mostly it.

The Hateful Eight starts out on a snowy road in Wyoming with bounty hunter John “The Hangman” Ruth (played by Kurt Russell) escorting a prisoner named Daisy Domergue. Along the way, they encounter Major Marquis Warren (played by Samuel L. Jackson). One noticeable thing here is that right from the beginning, you get the feeling that nobody in this story is exactly a saint. As the journey continues, a few more travellers join the ride, each with their own story and their own attitude, which is typical of Tarantino’s characters, so no surprise there.

Before you know it, the entire group ends up trapped inside a small cabin called Minnie’s Haberdashery because the snowstorm outside is harsh. Now, if you are thinking this sounds simple, well, that’s the trick Tarantino pulls here. The setup might sound simple, but the people inside that cabin are anything but simple.

And the skeleton of the film largely depends on the conversations; Tarantino really took his time letting these characters argue and insult each other and tell long stories that may or may not be true. That’s right, the longer you watch, the more you realise that something’s fishy.

A huge credit for this goes to the cast. Watching Jackson deliver Tarantino’s dialogue is half the fun of the movie, because he turns even a simple line into something that carries a bite. Across from him, you have Kurt Russell as John Ruth, a stubborn bounty hunter who believes rules are rules and criminals deserve the rope.

Then you have Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue, the prisoner who spends most of the film chained up. Despite that, she has managed to steal a share of the spotlight. We see her character laughing at the wrong moments and insulting the people guarding her. Her unpredictable behaviour makes you wonder what exactly she is hiding.

The music also plays a major role in the film and was composed by Ennio Morricone. It adds another layer to the tension in the room, which is essential to maintaining the darker tone of the movie.

By the time the film reaches its climax, everything finally collides, and you get exactly the kind of Tarantino drama you signed up for. Watching these characters turn against each other becomes half the fun, because every single one of them here is sus.

If you enjoy conversation-based cinema with powerful performances, The Hateful Eight is a fantastic pick. This film is a classic example that you don’t always need heavy action scenes to keep the viewers glued.