Bad Times at the El Royale

So this past weekend seemed to be the weekend on catching up on some films that I didn't push myself to go and check out last year. Both this an Overlord were more of those lower budget films that I thought looked cool but for one reason or another, didn't go out and see.

Bad Times at the El Royale is a period piece in the late 1960s. It takes place at a motel that used to be fancy back in the day but has since fallen into disarray. The unique part of the hotel is that one side is in Nevada and one side is in California. While this doesn't bring a whole lot to the table besides some symbolism, it does make for a really interesting location for a really well written thriller mystery film. The El Royale sees the patronage of 6 guests overall but in different circumstances and this is really where the meat of the story comes from, the characters.

I think a good comparison (more aesthetically not story or theme-wise) would be Murder on the Orient Express. The story centers on a 7 characters with their own backstory, motivations, and deceptions. Not everything is as it seems at the El Royale and it makes for a fun story that feels very much in the vein of a Tarrantino film.

At the front end of the story you have "normal" guests who come to stay for one reason or another. A priest named Father Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges), a singer named Darlene (played by Cynthia Erivo), and a vacuum cleaner salesman named Seymour Sullivan. (played by Jon Hamm).

In that mix is also a "hippie" named Emily played by Dakota Johnson. I would say she's got a secret but pretty much everyone here has a secret so that's not really a surprise. The more interesting thing about her is the fact that Dakota Johnson plays her... and does a really good job. To the point where I feel bad that her big break so to say was the Fifty Shades garbage because I think it put her on the wrong foot.

I'm not trying to give Dakota Johnson shit for taking a job that she probably knew would launch her into fame and be a franchise (and god knows everyone needs a franchise). I just think its funny that we put so much stock into one person's performance in a movie when we're probably unfairly taking out our shit on the movie on her.

Were there things wrong with Dakota Johnson's performance in Fifty Shades? Oh yes. But don't write her off. This movie is a prime example of that.

Robert Pattison is a great example. He's done a lot of movies since Twilight, a lot of them were really good. But he is tapped for that good acting to play an iconic character like Batman and everyone loses their mind. I'm not saying we need to give Dakota Johnson a superhero franchise, but I was surprised on how much I enjoyed moments with her, and in reality, she's not even a huge part of the film.

There are other characters, like the hotel attendant (played by Lewis Pullman). A kidnapped girl (played by Cailee Spaeny), and a cult leader played by Chris Hemsworth.

 I wanna get the big items out of the way before I talk about the real heart of this story, but Chris Hemsworth plays a Charles Manson-type and I think he was kind of the draw of this film because he dances at one point in the trailer and its kind of funny

And Hemsworth is perfectly fine in this movie. I'm not saying he's bad at all. In fact, this movie on top of him maybe doing less Thor (?) after Endgame maybe opens up the chance of him getting more strange roles like this because I think he had fun.

Just be aware that if you are watching this movie because of Hemsworth, while he is a fun, and definitely a different part that you've probably seen him in in the past, he's not a huge part.

The bigger parts are the character interactions and moments, cinematography, and the twists.

Seriously though, the location is small, the characters are really unique, and I got invested pretty quickly.

I gotta hand it to Jeff Bridges because the guy has been around long enough to know that a movie like this isn't going to grow really big or anything. You'll get people like me who want to check out random thrillers like this, but it's going to be huge. And yet Bridges just nails this part and made me care a lot.

I saw Cynthia Erivo in Widows and she was fine, but here she steps up her performance quite a bit and if anything, she sings really well.

It's hard to say a lot about this film because I went into this film knowing pretty much absolutely nothing and I think that's why I enjoyed it.

While I really enjoyed this film, I do recognize that there are some problems with it as it is trying to be a couple of different films, or at least emulate parts of other films that were more successful.

The zany characters and the long drawn out dialogue does feel like Drew Goddard was trying to do his take on a Tarrantino film. I liked the dialogue and the characters, but I don't think it reaches the level of Tarrantino gold (that being said I'm not a huge Tarrantino fan myself, but I'm speaking more what the general consensus might be).

The other aspect is the integration of music. Now I really enjoyed the soundtrack of this film. While everyone is using 80's classics, Bad Times at the El Royale pulls out some of the 60's classics and I'm sure anybody who watches this film might have a new found interest in 60's rock and RnB like me. But I will admit that it does try to draw people in with that soundtrack the same trend Guardians of the Galaxy started and has since been pile driven into the ground.

I think my criticism of this movie is more from a technical or general consensus perspective. Personally, I really enjoyed this film.

I don't think it's going to blow anybody's mind or really be remembered highly, but I would kind of put it in the same category as Overlord where I think it's a film that is actually kind of underrated from 2018.

I personally really like Drew Goddard. I think he's actually got a pretty good eye for directing and this was the first movie that didn't have Joss Whedon's heavy hand in it (Cabin in the Woods). Goddard has had his hands in a lot of movies that I really like as well as creating Daredevil which is one of the better shows to have come out of Netflix.

I really hope he gets another chance to make a movie like this. I think he could probably only make better films and I think this is a pretty good, if not a little bit forgettable first go at it on his own.

If you want a fun night of watching a movie, Bad Times at the El Royale is a fun little mystery that I think is worth your time.

Those are my thoughts on Bad Times at the El Royale. What did you think? Do you like Drew Goddard? Comment and discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading.