No tension

Only problem with that is, for a whodunnit, it'd spoil some of the early mystery surrounding the characters. But I agree, this did lack tension from a director who is great at delivering dialogue-driven tense scenes, and given the story there was opportunity for lots of it.

I think I'd prefer seeing your version as actually the whodunnit element didn't amount to much, and ultimately came to a premature end when Tarantino added his third chapter (?) showing the events at the haberdashery earlier on. It would have been better to take out that scene and play on the whodunnit more strongly and cleverly throughout the film, or just don't play it as a whodunnit, instead with a straighter narrative having that scene at the start as you propose, to ramp up the tension once Daisy and the bounty hunter arrive.

Ha!  It's really hard to address a viewpoint that opines that there was "no tension" until the last hour.

I mean, I take the OP at his word that he was not feeling it, but I think most people got it; they got behind main theme which was The Hangman's objective of bringing-in Domergue to justice despite 7 people who were potentially going to kill him in that effort. The tension was in not knowing who was truly innocent (or on his side) and what was going to happen next.

The sub-plot of Major Marquesse had it's own tension in that you don't even know if the all the other characters see him as a full human being and thus might kill him (or try to) at any moment, just out of disdain. (It's enjoyable that he maintains...throughout the movie...considerable mastery of his own self and the maneuverings of the others without delving into "super-negro" level of actions)

These two themes are supported by dialogue of men (and one woman to a lesser extent) feeling each other out in a confined space all with inherent tensions: paranoia, racism, life and death, crime and justice, north and south, etc.

I assume the film would be rated even higher than it is if there was more killing from the beginning and less yapping, but I think enough of us appreciated the different pacing. I loved Django Unchained, but I have enjoyed this about 4 or 5 times already. It's different from what you standardly get in today's Action genre. And different, in this case, is good! 


On November 6, 2012 god blessed America...again. 

I think my main issue was that The Hangman's paranoia about others wanting his bounty was hugely underplayed. This then completely undermined the tension in the film and is it's fundamental flaw. Both Marquis and Mannix have no idea who Domerghue is (there is no sense at all that they know different because they genuinely don't). The bounty doesn't even seem to raise an eyebrow. When The Hangman makes his speech about Domerghue being his bounty in the haberdashery and says 'does anyone have a problem with that?' no one seems to care at all (no squirms or dark looks). So it is a genuine shock when The Hangman dies as none of the characters or the director have implied that anyone cares about Domerghue or her bounty (and that's why the tension only starts genuinely at that moment). I never got the sense that anyone actually wanted to kill him.

I agree with there being no tension. Perfect example: Tarantino uses Hitchcock's bomb under the table scenario with Gage's secret gun. That set up should have been achingly tense, waiting for when he was going to pull the gun and go to town, Tarantino just let it sit there like a wet noodle; ZERO tension.

I like Tarantino's movies but when he keeps using the same actors over and over it can take away from the tension as well. Since we've seen all these actors do similar stuff before in most his movies it's kind of like watching a group of your friends do something, you know them so well already. I'd prefer it if he mixed them up and started using other actors.