'Bad Times at the El Royale' Is a Good Time

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.