Heritage

‘Bad Times at El Royale’, a Creepy Must-Watch Movie

film

Bad Times at El Royale” can best be summarised as a crime mystery journey laced with unpredictable twists and spontaneous violence, topped off with a stellar ensemble cast. This neo-noir film is written, produced and directed by Drew Goddard. He is the creator of the “Daredevil” series Netflix show based on a Marvel comic-book character and has previously written other series like “Alias” and “Lost.” He has also written big budget movies like “Cloverfields” and “World War Z”. His directorial debut was the 2012 meta comedy horror “A Cabin in the Wood”. Now you know you are in safe hands watching the movie.

Premise

The opening scene involves a stylish montage of a character hiding “something”. The scene clearly sets up the tone of the movie which begins 10 years after that incident. The premise theoretically is a simple one; a salesman (Jon Hamm), a priest (Jeff Bridges), singer (Cynthia Erivo) and a mysterious hippie (Dakota Johnson) check into El Royale hotel (a creepy resort that used to host senators and movie stars) located on the California/Nevada border line. A single employee (Lewis Pullman) runs the resort.The whole story revolves around secrets. Unfortunately, that’s all I can give you in terms of the premise, adding any more to that would be a spoiler.

The non-linear structuring of the film allows pieces to fall into place as discoveries are made which adds to the suspense thus spicing up an already creepy, mysterious and mesmerising tale.

Performances

The actors genuinely inhabit their characters with Erivo the singer standing out for me. I love music. Erivo as Darlene Sweet is remarkable. Her voice is amazing and when she starts singing, she totally sells the idea that she is a talented 60s soul backup singer.

Watching Chris Hemsworth in action, I got the feeling that he was really having a good time as a character. He shows up in the second half of the movie as Billy Lee, a fascinating twisted cult leader raising the stakes in the final act of the movie.

The good

This is a beautiful movie. You can tell that a lot of attention was paid to the costumes, set, design, cinematography and the music. Michael Giacchino composed the score with Erivo performing most of the track. She was required to sing on camera in real-time, with no option to use pre-recorded vocals.

If not the music or the stylish 60s flair, the non-linear structure supported by a tight script and three dimensional fully fleshed out characters will have you glued to the screen through its 141-minute runtime.

The bad

Although well edited, the movie demands patience. I would not call it a pacing issue but some scenes were unnecessarily slow.

It is sad to note that the movie was a failure in the box office. It was released in October 12 last year, making $31.6 million worldwide against its $32 million budget. Despite this, it received positive reviews from critics.