SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
Storytelling maven Quentin Tarantino is back with a Western mystery film starring a buffet of appealing ensemble cast! With his signature chapter bookends and succulent screenplay for the most parts, here's a cinematic feast featuring Ennio Morricone's chills-seeping score, Samuel L. Jackson's (as Major Marquis Warren) and Jennifer Jason Leigh's (as Daisy Domergue) miraculous performances plus the heavenly Ultra Panavision 70mm's long wide takes covering the harsh yet gorgeous scenic details!
The writer-director made his name off terrific dialogues and conversations, which form arresting scenes! Be it the first meeting between Warren and John Ruth (Kurt Russell), introduction of Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), Lincoln letter reading before the unexpected chaos, the lie surrounding the Lincoln letter, John drinking the poisoned coffee as Daisy's aware of it before the eventual bloody vomit shootout, Mannix's inherent dislike for Joe Gage (Michael Madsen) from the very beginning or Smithers' (Bruce Dern) reluctance towards Major Warren, it's downright amazing! Sometimes expositions are masked under the pretense of conflict which is truly appreciated. The key turning point where the events become increasingly interesting is when Warren starts suspecting the Mexican worker Bob (Demián Bichir) at the lodge. You know something's not right and you're not sure who you could or couldn't trust. Marquis' charismatic narration about Smithers' son and the unraveling of his investigation theories extending into indisputable facts in Minnie's Haberdashery are the heart-poundingly enrapturing Tarantino-esque stuff one should keep both eyes out for! Unfortunately, there aren't enough of these to warrant the 2.5-hour runtime. A lot of the interactions seem to have filler preludes before the actual payoff. Planting hooks for every tenth pace could have easily been omitted as it serves no significance at all other than to pad the length.
Surprise hidden underneath the floorboard prior to welcoming in the 'What Happened' is a shocking twist. The massacre that ensues prior to John's arrival as the Jody gang prepares and waits in anxiety for the ultimate act is fantastic! Although the climactic shootout is intense, the ending isn't cathartic as one would expect since the power struggle is almost non-existent despite attempts to do so. Also, it's definitely questionable as to how and why the strangers would easily abide by to allow their guns to be confiscated and dropped into a shit hole, for the sake of an unknown person's personal protection.
"Beggin' for his life, your boy told me his whole Life Story. And YOU, was in that story General. And when I knew me I had the son, of the Bloody Nigger Killer of Baton Rouge, I knew me I was gonna have some fun! It was COLD the day I killed your boy. And I don't mean snowy mountain in Wyoming cold... Colder than that. And on that cold day, with your boy at the business end of my gun barrel... I made him STRIP. Right down to his bare ass. Then I told him to start walkin'. I walked his naked ass for two hours... 'fore the cold collapsed him. Then he commits to beggin' again. But this time, he wasn't beggin' to go home. He knew he'd never see his home again. And he wasn't beggin' for his life neither, 'cause he knew that was long gone. All he wanted, was a BLANKET. Now don't judge your boy too harshly, General. You ain't never been cold as your boy was that day. You'd be surprised; what a man that cold, would-do-for-a-blanket. You wanna know what your boy did? I pulled my BIG, BLACK, PECKER outta my pants. And I made him crawl in the snow on all fours over to it. Then I grabbed a handful of that black hair at the back of his head... And I stuck my Big Black Johnson right down his goddamn throat! And it was fulla' blood... so it was warm. Oh, you bet your sweet ass it was warm. And Charles Chester Smithers sucked on that warm black dingus for as loong as he could. Hahahaahaha! Startin' to see pictures, ain't ya?"