Bad Times at the El Royale review

BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE:

A STYLISH AND BLOODY THRILLER THAT’S DEFINITELY WORTH CHECKING IN!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX

Chris Hemsworth in Bad Times at the El Royale

            Writer/director, Drew Goddard (Cloverfield, The Cabin in the Woods, The Martian) returns to the director’s chair after the critical and commercial success of 2012’s The Cabin in the Woods with the new thriller, Bad Times at the El Royale. Unlike The Cabin in the Woods which didn’t lure me in until the reviews came out and I actually sat down in the theater and watched it, I was hyped for El Royale from the start.

            Cabin in the Woods blew me away when I saw it and became a possible contender for my favorite horror movie of all time. I was waiting for another Goddard directed movie with similar anticipation people have regarding a new Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars movie.

            The trailers made it out to look like an homage/spoof of murder-mystery films set in a creepy old hotel like Psycho, Vacancy, and Hostel. Kind of like what Cabin in the Woods did for horror movies set in a cabin or at a campsite but for hotels instead.

            I think I may have set my expectations up too high with this film, Bad Times at the El Royale is a lot of fun and has an interesting premise, but it never quite lives up to the chaotic impact of The Cabin in the Woods. The film clocks in a 141-minute runtime, the final act is a bit anticlimactic compared to Cabin in the Woods, and the plot, while fascinating and keeps you guessing, does suffer some pacing issues.

             The film takes place at the El Royale, a hotel that literally sits right in the middle of California and Nevada with a state line dividing the two states and follows seven strangers meeting there one day. The strangers consist of aging priest, Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges-The Big Lebowski, Iron Man, True Grit (2010)), struggling soul singer, Darlene Sweet (Theater actress, Cynthia Erivo-Widows), woman on the run from a dangerous cult, Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson-Fifty Shades trilogy, Black Mass, How to Be Single), her sister, Rose (Cailee Spaeny-Pacific Rim: Uprising, Vice, Devs), FBI agent masquerading as a vacuum salesman, Dwight Broadbeck (Jon Hamm-Mad Men, Million Dollar Arm, Baby Driver), the young and psychologically damaged concierge of the El Royale, Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman), and charismatic cult leader, Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth-Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Cabin in the Woods, Rush), all of which are hiding a secret.

            They soon realize the El Royale has a long and dark history and all sorts of strange occurrences begin to happen. Over the course of one fateful night, these seven strangers have one last chance for redemption and right any of the wrongs they have done in the past before everything goes to hell.

            The film also stars Nick Offerman (Sin City, Parks and Recreation, Fargo (TV series)) as Felix O’Kelly, Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother, Elephant Song, Boy Erased) as Buddy Sunday, Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire, Fast & Furious 4 and 6, Kong: Skull Island) as Dr. Woodbury Laurence, Mark O’Brien (Republic of Doyle, Halt and Catch Fire, The Front Runner) as Larsen Rogers, Charles Halford (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Constantine (TV series), The Death of Superman) as Sammy Wilds, Jim O’Heir (3^rd Rock from the Sun, Star Trek: Voyager, Parks and Recreation) as Milton Wyrick, and Manny Jacinto (The 100, The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story, The Good Place) as Waring “Wade” Espiritu.

            Overall, Bad Times at the El Royale is a stylish, well-acted, and interesting thriller that balances bloody popcorn fun and dark humor with a twist of social subtext. The movie basks in Drew Goddard’s directing style and there are some ideas in here that feel like variations of concepts from The Cabin in the Woods like the secret rooms where people watch your every move, the one-way mirror that’s reflective on one side but transparent on the other, and even the building itself hiding a dark secret feels like it’s ripped from that movie.

            The mystery is deep and fascinating and each one of the characters could be the culprit, they all have their suspicious moments and complex story arcs, and some of them aren’t as they seem, even if they’re not the bad guy. All the actors play the parts well, Jeff Bridges as an aging, booze drinking priest, Cynthia Erivo who has already earned serious praise for her stage work as a soul singer trying to make it big, Jon Hamm as a cocky vacuum salesman/FBI agent, Dakota Johnson finally using her tying and binding skills in a good movie as a woman trying to save her younger sister but made out to look like a criminal, and the two performances that stood out to me were Cailee Spaeny and Lewis Pullman as the estranged sister and accomplice of the cult leader and the psychologically damaged caretaker of the hotel.

            Spaeny and Pullman are relatively new actors but every time they were on-screen, they legitimately gave me the creeps. Whenever they would say something or act out of the ordinary I thought to myself “They’ve seen and done some things…I just know it!” hopefully both of them will go places in their careers.

            A casting choice I found rather odd was Chris Hemsworth as the cult leader, not that he’s bad, he plays the role fine and it looks like he’s having fun with it. But whenever I see Chris Hemsworth either in movies or interviews, threatening never comes to mind, he’s too charming to be a bad guy, but I digress.

            There are some narrative choices that are definitely an acquired taste, it isn’t a straight-forward story and it’s told in a similar way to some of the early Quentin Tarantino films. There are title cards depicting the hotel’s rooms and characters’ names that lead into flashbacks explaining their origins and how they ended up at the El Royale.

            Sadly, there are some details that aren’t fully elaborated on, there are discussions about the hotel’s history and reasoning behind the occurrences that happened there, but they’re never shown and just leave you with more questions. In The Cabin in the Woods all the weird things happening came from a group of technicians underneath the cabin who controlling everything inside through computer screens, at one point in El Royale the hotel concierge admits that he’s terrified of management and we never see them in the entire film.

            Bad Times at the El Royale is a little rough around the edges, but nevertheless I had a fun time watching this movie. It’s a stylish mystery-thriller with surprises around every corner that’s worth a stay.