CAST
Samuel L. Jackson (The Legend of Tarzan)
Kurt Russell (Fast & Furious 8)
Jennifer Jason Leigh (Single White Female)
Walton Goggins (Tomb Raider)
Demián Bichir (Che)
Tim Roth (Lie To Me)
Michael Madsen (Species)
Bruce Dern (The Driver)
James Parks (Kill Bill)
Dana Gourrier (Django Unchained)
Zoë Bell (Game of Death)
Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street)
Quentin Tarantino (Planet Terror)
Years after the American Civil War, bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren is transporting three dead bounties to the town of Red Rock, Wyoming. He hitches a ride on a stagecoach driven by O.B. Jackson. Aboard is bounty hunter John Ruth, and handcuffed to him is fugitive Daisy Domergue, whom Ruth is escorting to Red Rock to collect her bounty and watch her hang. Ruth and Warren bond over Warren’s personal letter from Abraham Lincoln. Former Lost-Causer militiaman Chris Mannix, who is traveling to Red Rock as the town’s new sheriff, persuades Ruth and Warren to let him on the stagecoach. Warren and Ruth form an alliance to protect each other’s bounties.
The group seeks refuge from a blizzard at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach lodge. They are greeted by Bob, a Mexican, who says the owner, Minnie, is away visiting her mother. The other lodgers are Oswaldo Mobray, a hangman; Joe Gage, a quiet cowboy traveling home to visit his mother; and Sanford Smithers, a former Confederate general traveling to put his son to rest. Suspicious, Ruth disarms all but Warren. As the group eats, Mannix surmises that Warren’s Lincoln letter is a forgery. Warren admits this, saying the letter buys him leeway with whites, outraging Ruth. Warren leaves a gun next to Smithers and provokes him into reaching for it by telling Smithers he tortured, raped, and killed Smithers’ son. When Smithers pulls a gun, Warren shoots him as revenge for Smithers’ executions of black soldiers at the Battle of Baton Rouge.
While everyone is distracted by the confrontation, someone poisons the brewing coffee. Ruth and Jackson drink it, killing Jackson and seriously injuring Ruth. The dying Ruth attacks Daisy, but she kills him with his own gun. Warren disarms Daisy, leaving her shackled to Ruth’s corpse, and holds the others at gunpoint. He is joined by Mannix, whom Warren trusts because he nearly drank the poisoned coffee. Warren executes Bob, deducing that he is an impostor who killed the lodge owners, as Minnie hates Mexicans and would never leave one to care for the lodge. When Warren threatens to execute Daisy, Gage admits that he poisoned the coffee. A man hiding in the cellar shoots Warren in the genitals. Mobray draws a concealed gun and shoots Mannix, who returns fire, wounding Mobray.
Hours earlier, Bob, Mobray, Gage, and a fourth man, Daisy’s brother Jody, arrive at the lodge. They murder Minnie and five other bystanders, leaving only Smithers. Jody tells Smithers they plan to ambush Ruth to rescue Daisy, and that his gang will spare Smithers if he keeps quiet. The bandits dispose of the bodies, hide the evidence, and conceal guns around the lodge. As Ruth’s stagecoach arrives, Jody hides in the cellar.
In the present, Mannix and Warren, both seriously wounded, hold Daisy, Gage, and the dying Mobray at gunpoint. They force Jody out of the cellar by threatening to kill Daisy. Jody surrenders and Warren executes him. Daisy claims fifteen of her brother’s men are waiting in Red Rock to kill Mannix and ransack the town; if Mannix kills Warren and allows her to escape, the gang will spare him and let him claim the bounties of the deceased except her brother.
As Daisy and Mobray taunt Warren, Warren shoots them both, mortally wounding Mobray. Gage draws a hidden revolver, but is shot dead by Mannix and Warren. Warren then tries to shoot Daisy, but he is out of bullets. Mannix calls Daisy’s bluff and rejects her offer, but faints from blood loss. Daisy hacks off Ruth’s handcuffed arm and frees herself. As she reaches for Gage’s gun, Mannix regains consciousness, shooting her. Warren persuades Mannix to hang her from the rafters inside the lodge in honour of Ruth. Afterward, as the two men lie dying, Mannix reads aloud Warren’s forged Lincoln letter.
The Hateful Eight is a masterpiece. The rhythm is good, the film is balanced and it’s violent in almost a funny way. This is definitely a film I will see again.