Bold visuals, enhanced by glorious 70mm film, and writer-director Quentin Tarantino's typically entertaining dialogue bolster this lengthy, hyper-violent western. After tackling the 1850's-era American south in his last film, Django Unchained (2012), Tarantino travels forward to post-Civil War Wyoming, where (at least) eight characters hole up in a cabin during a blizzard. The cast roundly impresses, highlighted by Walton Goggins as a complex Confederate vet, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar-worthy as a bounty hunter's captured quarry with plans of her own. While the latter character is one of the stronger women seen on screen this year, the film seems intent to focus on her constant physical abuse, almost gratuitously so. Indeed, the story, while not without its share of interesting twists and flashbacks, lacks the sort of motivation that Tarantino's best work thrives on.

At 187 minutes, the novelty of the chamber piece setup wears off after a couple of hours, and Tarantino leans on over-the-top gore and wacky plot twists to steer the movie into a conclusion. It's a satisfying ride, and a highly respectable one from a technical standpoint, but for a black comedic mystery-western, it never reaches the big payoff.

Registering in the bottom half of the Tarantino oeuvre, The Hateful Eight is a violent film for chaotic times, making its case on gender and race relations in contemporary America through blood spray. While it's one of the director's best casts, including Bruce Dern, Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell, the script might be more at home on stage. The movie works, but here's hoping one of QT's last two films (he says he'll make just 10) returns to present day to address the current state as only he can.