The murder mystery has been one of the most prevalent movie subgenres of the last 20 or so years, especially recently, with theKnives Outseries and Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot franchise performing well at the box office and cultivating a strong fan base. Given that renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is the modern-day master of making genre films for the masses, it should come as no surprise that he took advantage of this growing trend withThe Hateful Eightin 2015.
The wintryWestern flickearned legendary composer Ennio Morricone his first Academy Award for Best Original Score, while the movie also received two additional Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Jason Leigh. Featuring a star-studded cast, engaging dialogue, and over-the-top violence,The Hateful Eightis not only one of Tarantino’s most underrated films, but it’s also the best murder mystery of the 21st century. Here’s why.
It’s a Refreshing Take on a Familiar Genre
While most single-setting murder mysteries seem to be period pieces that take place in Europe or modern-day whodunits situated in a bustling American city,The Hateful Eightuses the Western genre to breathe fresh life into the sort of movie we’ve seen time and again. Taking place in Wyoming at the tail end of the Reconstruction Era, the movie is filled with familiar characters from the time: justice-enforcing lawmen, chaos-causing outlaws, and in-betweeners hoping to strike it rich. Still,The Hateful Eightis not your typical Wild West film.
Instead of being hot and dusty and filled with no-name townspeople, it’s cold and isolated, and pretty much every character is important to the story. And, speaking of the characters, even the “good” ones (a.k.a., anyone who’s not an outlaw) are morally flawed in some way. Kurt Russell’s brash and violent John “The Hangman” Ruth is no Wyatt Earp. Chris Mannix (played by Walton Goggins), the apparent new sheriff of the town of Red Rock, is incredibly racist. Samuel L. Jackson’s Major Marquis Warren may be the target of constant racism from Mannix and others, but he’s also done some pretty heinous things to get where he’s at.
Through this setting construction and characterization, Tarantino messes around with familiar genre conventions to create an unmistakable tension, so that even though the murdering doesn’t occur until more than halfway through the movie, we know that something shady is afoot. It’s a refreshing departure from the familiar three-act murder-mystery formula of the big kill in the first act, the gathering of clues in the second act, and the exposition-heavy reveal in the third.
Related:The 20 Best Murder Mysteries of All Time, Ranked
It Relies on Performances Just as Much as Plot
Speaking of the aforementioned three-act structure, the formulaic nature of most murder mysteries typically leads to these movies valuing plot over characters. The ensemble-based component of a murder mystery is important to create a detailed suspect list, but the actual characters themselves are relatively one-note. And then, of course, there’s the detective, who, while probably exhibiting the most characterization of the bunch, usually possesses eccentricities that trump any actual substance. In some ways, most murder mysteries can afford to sacrifice plot for character, as audience members are likely so wrapped up in the mystery elements (and trying to play amateur detectives themselves), that they don’t really pick up on (or care about) the lack of character-based nuance.
WhileThe Hateful Eighthas a completely engrossing plot, it also features layered characterization that pulls you even deeper into the story. This is largely accomplished through Tarantino’s writing (as is the case with most of his films, you’re able to imagine that he wrote pages and pages of character backstory that barely made it on-screen), but it’s even further shown in the actors' performances.
Of course, Jennifer Jason Leigh is the standout, earning her Oscar nom by injecting humor and an endearing off-kilter quality into her role as the “Crazy”-monikered outlaw. But, Samuel L. Jackson turns in the movie’s second-strongest performance, getting to deliver the film’s best dialogue in the process, while Walter Goggins is effective as the sparring-partner-turned-ally to Jackson’s Warren. Tarantino regulars Tim Roth and Michael Madsen are solid as always, and even Channing Tatum is surprisingly goodin his cameo appearance. All in all, pretty much every featured actor brought their A-games forThe Hateful Eight, allowing audiences to take the film seriously as a murder mystery that goes far beyond its genre requirements.
Related:5 Reasons Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight Is a Western Masterpiece
It Actually Has Something to Say
Murder mysteries are typically not films filled with enough subtext to make larger societal points outside of the fact that “murder is bad.” But, aside from giving audiences a good show withThe Hateful Eight, Tarantino also has something to say about the glaring racism and sexism during the time that it took place. On the racism front,Tarantino said in a 2015 interview with GQthat his exploration of the treatment of Black people in late-1800s America was actually tethered to the commentary on race that he explored three years prior inDjango Unchained.
Django was definitely the beginning of my political side, and I thinkHateful Eightis the…logical extension and conclusion of that. I mean, when I say conclusion, I’m not saying I’ll never be political again, but, I mean, I think it’s like, in a weird way,Djangowas the question andHateful Eightis the answer.
Well, I mean, in the way of, like, talking about America’s culpability in their past is what Django’s about. The white supremacy that has existed since and that is rearing its ugly head again, to such a degree that it’s being dealt with by the Black Lives Matter movement and all that stuff, is where we are now. And that’s whatThe Hateful Eightdeals with. The thing that was really wild is, I wasn’t trying to bend over backwards in any way, shape, or form to make it socially relevant. But once I finished the script, that’s when all the social relevancy started.
Audiences may be used to Tarantino tackling race in his films (and using harsh language to get his point across), but his take on gender issues through the harsh treatment of Daisy Domergue seriously divided critics, with many even labeling it misogynistic. Still, others, like Courtney Bissonette of women’s lifestyle magazine Bust,praised the portrayal.
This is equality, man, and it’s more feminist to think that a criminal is getting treated the same despite her sex. They don’t treat her like a fairy princess because she is a woman, they treat her like a killer because she is a killer.
Regardless of what you think about Tarantino’s coverage of racism and sexism inThe Hateful Eight, his attempt to do something more with a relatively safe genre was ambitious, to say the least.
