Bad Times at El Royale (2018)

Title: Bad Times at El Royale

Year: 2018

Genre:   Crime | Drama|

Runtime:   141 min

Director:  Drew Goddard

Starring:  Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Jon Hamm

 7,5/10

Circa 1968, several strangers, most with a secret to bury, meet by chance at Lake Tahoe’s El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past. Over the course of one night, everyone will show their true colors – before everything goes to hell.

SWEET CINEMATOGRAPHY BUT THE REST? NOT THAT GOOD…

What is this movie about? Well, it is a mixture between prison-drama and the character they say they are but ain’t really at the end- movie.  It has memorable character with depth and complexity that work but the editing makes it almost unwatchable. That combined with some big flaws, makes everything hard to process. Much of what you’re going to soon watch is preferable as useless or bullshit. It uses characters flashback to compromise the story. These flashbacks have as a purpose to achieve something like a backstory. Cause all of this is very character based, if you will. It reminds me of a chamber play, where everyone stays at the same place, yet you get to know all these characters through different backstories. Most of them, might be truthful and not that reliable, at least in what you may think it is. Nonetheless, overall these character works in some way.

    Most likely, you weren’t supposed to be that attached to either of these characters. The one you might like in the beginning, might even be killed off for some unexplainable reason at isn’t that just frustrating? Just like when Jon Hamm get killed off in a violated manner at the half of the movie. And not forget… There are some moments where it’s just plain dialogue. Dialogue that supposing are for character-development but that isn’t what the director and writer Drew Goddard spend his time on. All these dialogues don’t give the time properly to even evolve to something that is entertaining. Now, it’s just actors reading lines. Isn’t that just boring? Just like these actors who just happen to show up all together at the same time at the hotel, everything is giving at chance or random, if you will.

     Jon and Jeffrey are quite persuasive in how they make their performance – especially Jeffrey Bridges who gives the stellar-performance. It just isn’t the best of his long career, yet he is the best of the whole ensemble. Lewis Pullman, who plays Miles Miller is good too. He is suprisingly good in this film.
The whole concept where every criminal stay at a hotel that’s divided in two and where secrets shows their true colour. It not that bad as you might think but isn’t that good either. It has some major flaws that they should have been more careful with right from the beginning. Most likely is not casting Chris Hemsworth as a Hippie Charlie Manson – killer. All he does in this movie is walking shirtless around at the hotel and every scene he’s in. What’s that point of this story? It doesn’t develop anything on how he is as a character. Even, Hemsworth is a horrible actor in this movie unless he is playing the God of thunder. Maybe Chris should retire or stay even longer in the Marvel-universe.