Review of Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) by Joel R — 12 Jan 2019

Drew has a very good filmography. I enjoy most of his films and his directing in this movie is pretty good. The cinematography is quite beautiful. Excellent shot, but Drew excels when it comes to writing and this movie, once again, proves it. This is a very good screenplay. The witty yet sometimes intense dialogue works perfectly. Each character is unique and as you move along you uncover more of each of their past through flashbacks, and you understand more their motives of why they are at the hotel.

The performances all great. Jeff Bridges is Jeff Bridges. He's great. But the one person, who I didn't think was going to be THIS good, was Chris Hemsworth. He was magnificent. His character was my favorite and all because of Hemsworth performance. He's such an interesting character with different believes to the rest of the people, and Hemsworth brings it.

The movie may be slow at first. Nothing exciting happens within the first half hour. Nothing but interaction between the characters which was excellent. But when it gets to the intense and thrilling parts, the pacing of the movie becomes a bit faster. And I say a bit because there were scenes where after something intense happened, you cut to a flashback and it's a slower sequence and takes you out of the moment.

The movie was surprisingly good. The performances were great. The screenplay is the best aspect of the film, I believe Drew Goddard is a better writer than he is as a director, which is not a bad thing at all.