'Bad Times at the El Royale' A Review

Before you start, I know the subtitle to this review is shit, so before you start criticising me, go fuck yourself. Now we have that out of the way, when I first saw the trailer for Bad Times at the El Royale I was instantly intrigued. Presenting a stellar cast and a cool setting, Bad Times was a film for which I had some very high hopes, and after seeing it this Friday, I'm very glad to say that the high hopes were comfortably satisfied.

Split up into separate chapters, Bad Times focuses around the diverse ensemble of guests at a hotel that sits in the very centre of the border between California and Nevada. The guests at the hotel initially present their own unique facades to the other guests, but as the story unravels, and as we travel through the chapters of the story, we come to realise that all is not as it seems with our guests, and the Hotel itself has a more sinister undertone beneath its quirky presentation.

An interesting way of presenting the narrative, a mixture of different time settings, and crossed paths give the film a Tarantino feel, but Director Drew Goddard applies his own flair to what Tarantino fans may see a familiar way of telling a story. As one story progresses to a partial climax, the film will progress onto another chapter, which will eventually present some of the same events but from a different perspective, helping unravel what may have initially been a confusing story. When you may find yourself thinking you have the story figured out, the change in perspective will show you simply how wrong you are.

While none of the characters can in any way be seen as perfect, they all ultimately have their own sincere objectives, whatever they may be, but each character being delivered with pitch-perfect—literally in the case of Cynthia Erivo—performances.

My own personal favourite was Jeff Daniels' portrayal of Father Daniel Flynn, a seemingly unassuming Priest looking to take up residency in the Hotel. It quickly becomes apparent that his motives are not entirely God fearing. A scene in particular shared between Bridges and Erivo in the Hotel's lounge sees his character admit to her the state of his declining memory. As the character struggles to retain his composure when telling this secret to her, it becomes a genuinely moving scene in which you find yourself feeling for the character, even if he may not necessarily be entirely above board.

I mentioned Cynthia Erivo being literally pitch perfect. Her character of Darlene Sweet, a Motown backing singer, has a number of scenes where she is seen belting out one song or another. The power behind the voice, the atmosphere presented by the songs, again gives the film a certain unsettling tone that I found to be totally gripping.

Chris Hemsworth, Lewis Pullman, John Hamm, Nick Offerman, Dakota Johnson, and the rest of the cast all add their own unique elements to what is a truly brilliant film. While I expected to enjoy the film, I didn't expect it to present something quite so memorable as the film ultimately presented itself.

Although some of the bigger names like Hemsworth and Hamm may not necessarily be in the film as much as you'd like, they all serve their major purpose within the overall story. There are a lot of elements to this that you may not expect and that aren't entirely answered by the climax of the film, but fundamentally, this is what makes the film work. Like a carrot dangling in front of a horse, it teases you along for the ride without making you feel like you were robbed by not being given an answer to every question you may have. A mystery, crime thriller, drama, whatever you may think of it, all that you need to know is that Bad Times at the El Royale makes for one hell of a ride.