Eight films into his career, Quentin Taratino has essentially created his own genre through his movies. The director, best known for graphic violence and inventive dialogue, is rather fascinating for his ability to constantly dig back into history as a means of informing his approach to form and structure.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in his latest feature, "The Hateful Eight." Drawing heavily from classic Hollywood Westerns and major epics, the three-hour movie is divided up into two halves, features an intermission and even has an overture to set the scene.

While it is surely an interesting history lesson of sorts and creates its own suspense, Tarantino's film ultimately comes off as an interesting novelty in a filmography that features far superior work.

Set in post-Civil War Wyoming, the film follows a few bounty hunters on their way to a village to claim their respective rewards. John Ruth (Kurt Russell), aka "The Hangman," is looking to claim his bounty on Daisy Domergue (a hilarious Jennifer Jason Leigh), while Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson at his most dynamic) is doing the same with a few corpses he has already piled up.

The problem is that the characters get caught in the middle of a blizzard, forcing them and other mysterious characters into a small tavern to spend the night. From there, tensions flare and violence inevitably follows.

The first half of the film is rather distinct in style and suspense. The first part is the journey to Minnie's Haberdashery. The section attempts to set up the distinct conflicts between the main characters.

While there is no doubt that Tarantino is a king at developing characters through dialogue, some exchanges go on for far too long. The director knows that, at this point, he can do whatever he likes and get away with it, thus setting off his most indulgent impulses.

At one point, the two bounty hunters are in the stagecoach, joined by Sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins). They start talking Civil War politics and revealing the backstory of one of the characters. The dialogue is filled with interesting insight, but the viewer cannot help but feel that the journey is stalling, despite the irony of the stagecoach continually moving.

The tension really gets ramped up when the forward movement of the carriage has stopped and the characters find themselves holed up in the haberdashery. Tensions boil until they finally explode at the very end of Act 1.

The monologue that caps that act really shows the best and most frustrating of Tarantino's work packed into one moment. On one hand, viewers have terrifically descriptive dialogue. But by the same token, the story told is dragged on and on.

By this point, the audience is waiting for something of consequence to happen, and the delay is rather cumbersome. That said, Tarantino, by way of explicit sexual innuendo, builds the climax of Act 1.

Act 2 seems to continue along the same path, with one action set piece after another. To put it succinctly, Act 2 moves in a way that Act 1 could never quite get to. It makes for a powerful payoff, the blood spilling everywhere (poor Leigh has to deal with blood splattering on her at every interval). As expected with Tarantino, murder comes in all shapes and sizes, and is undoubtedly ugly to behold.

By the end of the film, the director actually has a rather emotional beat, something that is not always apparent in his prior work. Given the content and themes of this beat in the context of modern day U.S., the scene resonates rather beautifully, ending the film on an emotional cadence to be sure.

As is the case with every Tarantino work, the crafting of the film is unparalleled. The film is shot in 70mm, the grain of the film really adding to the disheveled frontier where the film takes place. For a film that is set in one location for more than half of its duration, Tarantino finds many ways to find new angles, constantly rotating the setting to make it feel larger than it is.

At one point, one character references hanging, and the camera dollies back a bit to reveal chains hanging from the ceiling. At another point, confrontation between two characters is filmed from profile angles, emphasizing the confrontational nature of the chat.

The use of flashbacks and even a recap after the intermission is well-employed here, ramping up the tension throughout the second act.

Ennio Morricone's score is filled with melodic beats, yet manages to capture the clustered environment and internal hysteria beautifully. During the death of one character, the basses start playing a funeral march of sorts, slowly building while the characters unsuspectingly go about their business. Suddenly, the moment of death comes, and the orchestra bursts into brittle energy.

The acting, as is always the case with a Tarantino film, is excellent. Leigh steals the show constantly, her character toying with other characters but also with the audience in her attempts to gain attention. In some closeup shots, she appears in a marginalized part of the frame doing her utmost to create a distraction. Low and behold, that is exactly what her character's function winds up being.

Samuel L. Jackson is also poised throughout the film as well, before reaching his most explosive performance. He has a monologue that few will forget, and his delivery is itself a musical crescendo, building and building until he explodes with sound and fury.

Russell comes off as violent early on, but then becomes more subdued as the film rolls along. At one point, he appears shocked to hear that something he cared for was a hoax.

Goggins is hilarious and yet endearing as Mannix, a man who is unsure of his allegiances. Bruce Dern is subdued in his role as General Smithers, while Demian Bichir puts all of his charm on display as Bob.

Meanwhile, Tim Roth's Oswaldo is a distant cousin to Christoph Waltz's characters in the previous two Tarantino movies. He is rather proper in his behavior, but quite potent with his use of language and dangerous when given a chance to attack.

Michael Madsen is quiet and coarse as Joe Gage, a nice contrast to Oswaldo. Channing Tatum also makes a solid cameo in the film, while the remainder of the cast fills out the world of "The Hateful Eight."

Tarantino fans will undoubtedly love the director's continued inventiveness with "The Hateful Eight." That said, it is hard to ignore the film's uneven pacing throughout, particularly the lethargic movement of the first hour of the movie.