A Tarantino picture, Hateful Eight presents itself as one. Though overlong, it is never unwelcome despite its shortcomings. A sense of mystery complemented, to a fault, by the type of gore that has made Tarantino a name for himself. This movie is delightful, a western, and plays like a game of Clue. The supporting cast of characters is just that, supporting. Not one standout exists, and tarantino, ever the auteur, is the star of the movie.

Though Tarantino’s style does not support main characters well, he seems to realize this, as every character is given moments to shine. Samuel L. Jackson may not have a better character. His line delivery given with so much fervor and grace despite the ugly words coming out of his mouth. The ultimate team player though, he never shines over his teammates. The Hateful Eight is a performance of a play that is caught on camera. It’s staging within a stagecoach and a haberdashery respectfully. The environment is claustrophobic by design, excellently produced, and each character is navigated accommodatingly. Tarantino expresses a supreme knowledge of staging throughout, as each character is smartly placed throughout each scene.

The aforementioned Samuel L. Jackson serves as an escalator though he largely lives as a spectator. This is not his characters story. The most central figure may be Jennifer Jason Leigh and her savage character, Daisy Domergue. Another escalator, if just by nature, she largely sits on the sidelines. The Hateful Eight is chalk full of these characters, yet they intermingle and shelter from a storm in a wood cabin. The story is not about the characters themselves, but how they interact with each other. This should come of no surprise to any Tarantino fan as that is a sentence descriptive of any of his movies. Though Hateful Eight is certainly not the best Tarantino movie, it might be the most Tarantino movie, and parts of that are welcome.

Tarantino’s dialogue may have been better but I think has never been this purposeful. Though he took on the Holocaust in Inglorious Basterds and slavery in Django Unchained, Hateful Eights dialogue is more pointed from a storytelling perspective. A mystery is created, no one can be trusted. You like each character, as they are given their own unique charm. Tim Roth’s character is a british hangman, Michael Madsen’s is a quiet cowboy, Bruce Dern plays a loyalist confederate general, Kurt Russell plays a career bounty hunter. You want each character to be vindicated, to be truthful, yet you know one of them is lying.

One character though, comes off differently and hateable from the start. Walton Goggins, and his plucky sheriff Chris Mannix feels undeserving and squeamish. Credit Goggins in his line delivery, he comes off nervous yet privileged. The type to wave his privilege in his enemies face. Though he does a lot to fit in, Goggins’s mere act of trying to fit in makes him a standout.

Hateful Eight, a high class mystery novel of sorts, celebrates that aspect of itself. The mystery is so great that the resolution suffers, though it is admittedly not bad. However, you will find yourself missing parts of the movie as they fly by. You will miss each characters extent of charm as they hide their true natures. Without giving anything away, the mystery unravels to a rush of blood and guts reminiscent of Tarantino’s first film, Reservoir Dogs. And comparisons are justified, yet Reservoir Dogs eased you into the blood. In that movie, Tim Roth spends the second scene bleeding out in the back of car. Similarly, there are attempts to ease you into The Hateful Eight, most notably a vivid, haunting description of a rape, but it is not enough to sustain itself.

This leads to the reveal, whilst well done, it is less creative than you would want. It is far less a reveal that you would never think of and moreso a reveal that you had thought of earlier in the movie. It’s a reveal that you had thought of, then forgot about in hope that something better could come along. As reveals go, its safe yet strong. You will like it, yet long for a more daring reveal. In that sense it is clever, but not so creative.

That is disappointing, but only because the mystery was so much better than the reveal itself. Maybe it’s the standard we set for Quentin Tarantino, whether it is his fault or the fault of his viewers. He’s always been an indie director, yet one that appeals to wide audiences. He made one of the greatest movies of all time in Pulp Fiction after a strong entrance with Reservoir Dogs. He supplemented his earlier work with two critical and commercial darlings in Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained. Yet he made fun movies too, specifically Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2.

That’s what The Hateful Eight is, a fun mystery drama. The plot is ridiculous and unfounded but that doesn’t matter because it fits the style of the movie. The mystery is built elegantly through a fantastic supporting cast. Each character is given time to express their own unique charm. The movie is complemented by a fantastic score from legend Ennio Morricone, who already won a Golden Globe for his work. The movie feels like a fun play, and maybe this is Tarantino saying he wants an attempt at a Tony. That is something I can support. The movie may be better as a play.

I think Tarantino supports that idea. Despite his continued prowess behind a camera, he’s always been a writer first. Furthermore he’s always valued quality of his work over quantity. Almost 25 years of filmmaking, and he just released his eighth movie. (Tarantino considers both Kill Bill’s to be one movie) It would make sense within his own character that he may move his career path to that of a novelist or a playwright, and Hateful Eight’s story supports that. It’s a movie where the star is the script, not the characters. The characters are mere tools, and maybe the best part of the experience is how they are used, or rather how they are staged.