Film: Bad Times at the El Royale
Ten Second Review: Fun and engaging thriller that’s a treat for the eyes. If you like slow burning classic films, this one’s for you.
The latest film from Drew Goddard, the director of Cabin in the Woods, actually shares a lot with his 2012 comedy-horror. A group of people are all brought to a mysterious location and the audience and the characters are fed information at different times meaning some times we know more than them and sometimes they know more than us. The other similarity, it has to be said is the sheer delight it will probably bring to fan of cinema in general.
We open in 1959 with a beautiful sequence of a nameless character hiding a mysterious bag under the floorboards of a motel room. The sudden death of the character launches us 10 years into the future, to the arrival of a pastor (Jeff Bridges), a singer (Cynthia Erivo) and a vacuum salesman (John Hamm) at the El Royale hotel. The hotel is set along the stateline of California and Nevada, with half the hotel in one state and half in the other. The three visitors meet the hotel clerk, Miles (Lewis Pullman), and are then joined by a mysterious fourth guest (Dakota Johnson). The film tells the guest’s stories and we find out what brings each of them to the El Royale…
There are so many things to love about this film, and a few things that are not so loveable, but it has to begin with the setting. The El Royale is a beautiful piece of design. From its secrets and reasons for being to its history and décor, the hotel becomes a character in itself. As the story breathes and we learn more about each character, we learn more about the hotel itself. It takes on a persona and really is a wonderful setting for this fun film.
Now we have to talk about the story telling. The film uses non-linear chapter type order to give each character their own definitive tale but weaves these together by showing the same events in the hotel from different character’s perspectives. Examples like Pulp Fiction and Snatch spring to mind and the Tarantino connection seems to ring the loudest. The style of the character development and the moody style really feels like a Tarantino flick but with a little less gratuitous violence and little more intrigue. There is still blood, violence and a fair amount of death in this film but there seems a little more substance than in some recent Tarantino ventures. The pun-loving Pulp Fiction fan inside me wants to do a joke about the film being an El Royale with cheese but as I know its an awful pun I’ll just leave it there.
The acting in this film was also great. Everyone puts in a great performance and it’s hard to pick one out that rises above the rest. I think if I were to choose then I would say Cynthia Erivo. Her acting was particularly gripping and you just fall into that character but Jeff Bridges is not far behind with one of his best performances I’ve seen recently. The problem is that I’d also like to mention Chris Hemsworth’s performance and Pullman‘s too but at that point it seems to serve better by just saying that there are no complaints to be had with the acting in his film.
The only real complaints I can make are that the film has the occasional plot hole or occasional niggle that I wish had been explained. There was nothing major, but at such a runtime they could have dropped a line here or there to explain certain things or taken them out instead and shaved of some of the runtime. I do think the runtime will scare off a few people but if you enjoy a slow burn full of great acting and an intriguing story then I think you’ll enjoy this film.
Overall I think Bad Times at the El Royale is a lot of fun and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys something a little different and isn’t finding it in films at the moment. With the help of some great acting and fun storytelling, Goddard has made a beautiful piece of cinema that is a joy to watch. This isn’t a film for everyone and it certainly isn’t a serious film, but it is a film for everyone who is serious about film.
