Review of Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) by Davrosdaleks1 — 11 Oct 2018

Drew Goddard has done it again bringing an entertaining Tarantinoesque noir/suspense film.

This is a really well executed. Goddard does a great job of leading the viewer. There are some impressive visual shots in this, including one big reveal near the beginning that kept me captivated for every second. No lodger is who they initially appear to be and the script does a great job of jumping backward and forward in time as information is revealed little by little. Excellent cast all across the board. Dialogue is pretty slick and funny at points. Though the standout of the film may be the actual El Royale hotel itself. All credit should be given to the designers. It is a perfectly orchestrated distillation of sixties nostalgia. (I didn't even know there was a time when hotels could have a main building with a room or rooms, and adjoining motel units. Neat.) There are only a few people there because its the off-season and the hotel's popularity had declined. The brightness and cleanliness of the place also offers an unsettling coldness when contrasted with the lack of life.

Admittedly the third act isn't quite as strong as the first two. It is a solid finale but once most of the reveals happen it gets easier to predict how things will transpire. Also, the movie excels in its execution but once once its all said and done the film is a mash-up of similar elements from several modern crime/thriller/noir films.

This is one of those films where I don't know if you need to watch it at full price in the theater, but I do highly recommend that you catch it at some point.