Review of Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) by Elthor — 21 Jun 2019

'Cabin in the Woods' director, Drew Goddard, on his second go at the helm of a film, attempts to also write and produce while aping Quentin Tarantino's 90s era style.

We have the expected non-linear plot and title cards, but that doesn't make him Tarantino. Goddard is 15 years too late to be original and light on the skills necessary to be a good knock-off.

Foremost, the dialog has no snap. 'Cabin' had the benefit of Joss Whedon's sharply dark humor, something 'El Royale' is crying out for. You won't even get a character telling a single ridiculous Tarantino non sequitur story.

Also, be prepared for a lot of cheap shots. In better hands it might have kept the audience on the edge of its seat, in 'El Royale' it was just tiresome.

If you have more than 2 hours to kill, and aren't picky, it's not awful, but expect a bad time to be had by all.