Bad Times at the El Royale is a neo-noir thriller film set in 1969
about seven strangers – a priest (Jeff Bridges), a lounge singer (Cynthia
Erivo), a salesman (John Hamm), a hippie (Dakota Johnson) and her sister
(Cailee Spaeny), a concierge (Lewis Pullman), and a cult leader (Chris
Hemsworth) – who coincidentally come together one night in the El Royale, a hotel
situated on the California-Nevada border that has seen better days, which leads to the unearthing of the buried secrets of one another as well as of the shady establishment they are
staying in.
Right from the very start, I
thought the premise was intriguing. I’m
just quite fond of contained, ensemble “whodunit” narratives, like those
typical of Hercule Poirot’s cases. Though
this movie is technically not a whodunit, it has the same kind of feel.
The cast is fantastic. Every actor magnificently projects the required nuances and quirks to make his or her character the gritty, colorful neo-noir character
that he or she is. Chris Hemsworth is
especially notable. It took a while
before his character showed up. But when
he finally did, he chewed up the scenery delightfully.
It’s a bit too unnecessarily slow
at parts. But this is offset by the well-sustained
sense of mystery, stylish look, magnetic performances, and creative
storytelling. Meaning, it doesn’t get
boring.
There’s an obvious attempt to
channel Quentin Tarantino’s style in its presentation. However, it fails to have the kind of biting
dialogue that a Tarantino script has. Moreover,
this comes across as a little bit pretentions as it makes its plot appear bigger
than it really is. Nevertheless, the
Tarantino-ish execution does net the film a positive effect for its tone and
narrative.
In the end, I had fun with Bad Times at the El Royale. It’s not flawless; I have disappointments (especially
this: because the curious fact that the hotel was built on the
Nevada-California border was strongly stressed upon, the audience was led to
believe that it would play a major part in the plot, but it didn’t). But all things considered, it proves to be a
mostly gripping and pleasing watch.
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