While the situation may (or may not) have been lifted from Tarantino, the style of writing belongs to writer-director Drew Goddard, who creates a small world with only a passing relationship to our own. Five strangers and a hotel clerk meet at the deserted El Royale, and each has a secret that will be exposed on the long, stormy - and ultimately violent - night that follows. It's intriguing - if a little slow - to begin with, but runs out of steam with the arrival of Chris Hemsworth as a Manson-like cult leader with the haziest of agendas. There are some decent twists, though - and one truly terrifying jump scare - and Jeff Bridges steals every scene that he's in.
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JoeytheBrit3 July 2020
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zhammons-2105829 February 2020Just watched this for the first time after stumbling across it on demand. Figured I would give it a chance, since I loved Cabin in the Woods and Jeff Bridges is one of my favorite actors. I'm no film major or snooty critic, just a guy that enjoys movies. It is definitely a film that pays homage to QT, Coen Bros, etc, but I don't think it is trying to be one of their films as others have said. I'm impressed when a director can pull off an interesting story that takes place in a small setting, such as Hateful Eight, Cloverfield Lane, Devil, Insomnia etc. At nearly 2.5 hours, I didn't feel like the movie was too long, and there were several twists to keep it interesting. I believe all good artists are influenced by their predecessors, but they also put their own spin on it. I think if you are a fan of the above directors, you will enjoy the movie. Just don't try and hold it to QT standards.
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boblipton15 July 2020A man enters a motel room, moves all the furniture, rolls up the rug, pries open the floor, drops a satchel into the hole, puts everything back in place, hangs around, answers the door and is blown to smithereens.
Ten years later, a priest, a traveling salesman, a girl singer and an angry hippie chick are checked into the El Royale motel by a deaf hotel clerk. Only one of them is what he or she claims to be.
It's an elaborately, almost flamboyantly written neo-noir. Clearly writer-director Drew Goddard has seen Quentin Tarrantino's pictures and has learned his stye of writing a movie: take a bunch of great shots, and write a script that gets from one to the next. Add in some shock value and a great setting -- the Arte Moderne El Royale is clearly modeled on the Cal-Neva Lodge, the glitzy hotel half in California and half in Nevada, that was bought by Sinatra and Dean Martin fronting for the Mafia. A great music track is necessary -- 1960s girl-band hits. Where he has bettered Tarrantino -- with whom I have reached my limit -- is that it's not necessary to go all potty-mouth all the time, and if you can't remember a great shot to steal, why, you can write your own.
Gasp! What an insane idea! Thanks to cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, composer Michael Giacchino and the other talent behind the camera, as well as a solid cast led by Jeff Bridges, it works very well... although about ten minutes from the end something bumped my concentration to make it clear all this was scripted. In sum, there's nothing absolutely original about this movie, but it's pretty well put together and will keep you guessing until the end. -
Kirpianuscus15 September 2019It is a surprising , perfect puzzle. All is familiar. And you feel that more than you know. The build up is incredible, the mix of western, policier, horror and adventure, war and Tarantino, conspiracy theory, few drops of Scorsese and few crumbs of romance are almost incredible. A film admirable crafted. And that - from impecable story to the acting are ingredients defining it as real special.
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truemythmedia18 June 2019I really wanted to like this movie. For about the first hour, I really did, but by about the two-hour mark I was ready for the film to end, and by the time the credits rolled I found myself walking from the theater slightly disappointed. "Bad Times at the El Royale" was written and directed by Drew Goddard ("Cabin in the Woods"), a man whose work I've been largely split on, but whenever he hits the nail on the head, his stuff really works for me. This film started off great; there were lots of great twists and turns, memorable and diverse characters, and a mysterious premise. But as the film rolled on, and the character's secrets were unveiled, I found myself growing disenfranchised with the film. Goddard continuously hints at darker things happening, but he never really delivered what he promises. The movie felt like it was trying to emulate the overlapping storylines of "Pulp Fiction", and even some of the dialogue felt like it was Tarantino-esque, but Goddard never quite reaches the level of snappiness Tarantino infuses into his films. Goddard's writing seems uneven; some of the lengthy dialogue scenes are great, while others are dull, borderline boring.
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abenezerberhanu24 December 2018I didn't expect much from this movie when i started it but it was very interesting and good. The story is pretty interesting and the build up is also perfect. It keeps you waiting shrouding you with mystery. The cast is perfect. Personally i thought Jeff bridge's performance was perfect. The other cast also give a solid performance. All in all the movie is very enjoyable and i definitely recommend it
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Yee_Reviews1 October 2018Good: The time period 1969 provides a great stylistic approach to a hotel that has property on both California and Nevada, which adds to the idea of having a good side and a bad side and the hotel also creates a sense of entrapment. The cinematography is great as it makes slow pans to unveil the secrets of the characters and the El Royale. The hotel, costume design, and soundtrack help create a nostalgic setting. The directing and editing are also well done when incorporating sound/music to scenes especially when Cynthia Ervio sings. Erivo's musical performance is filled with heart and soul and helps develop the character and conveys her emotions. Other standouts are Jeff Bridges and Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth just has a charming presence and provides the slight dark tone of his character. Bridges plays his character well as he connects with Erivo and tries to execute his actions. However, the rest of the cast have trouble making their appearance known...
Bad: At a whopping 2h 20m runtime, the film is a slow burn where it takes a painstakingly long time to make it to the end and even the finale becomes a disappointment. At times it tries to be funny, but the humor is not a standout in this film. There is a lack of emotional pull to the characters which is evident in the finale where the characters are still not fully developed. The concept was there, but the creativity lacked, which ended up in poor execution.
Overall: Style over substance. I wanted to like this movie for the trailer was great with its editing, soundtrack, and cast, but does not live up to Drew Godard's directing predecessor "The Cabin in the Woods," or have the writing creativity from "The Martian." The film reminded me a lot of Quentin Tarantino films as it was divided into chapters and had the same style with flashback stories to gain background, however, I would rather watch "Hateful Eight," or any of Tarantino films that have excellent dialogue and action.
2.9/5 (Not fresh) -
classicsoncall10 March 2019Whoa, pleasant surprise here! The movie delivered a lot more than I was expecting with a title like "Bad Times at the El Royale". Seems like Jeff Bridges can't miss ever since "Crazy Heart", with follow up grizzled, ornery characterizations in "Rooster Cogburn" and "Hell or High Water". He was great here as the dementia challenged old timer bent on reclaiming an old score from ten years prior during a robbery that went South. But he's not alone among a cast that includes relative newcomer Cynthia Erivo, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson and Chris Hemsworth, who provides an additional layer of intensity with an appearance late in the story. Part of my fondness for the film comes from an appreciation for Tarantino-esque story telling with a non-linear chronology, which was very effective here and not too difficult to follow.
What really got my attention in the early going was when Calhoun Appliance salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Hamm) placed a call to J. Edgar Hoover at the FBI..., wait, what? Then it gets weirder and weirder with the El Royale's secret passage containing two way mirrors, listening devices and secret recording equipment. The principal story takes place in the mid to late Sixties, with a very satisfying soundtrack recalling some of the big hits of the era, which nicely redounds to Cynthia Erivo's character, a promising lounge singer attempting to make it big with nearby casino bookings. But as the viewer, you're never quite sure what direction the story is going in until the all but invisible Billy Lee (Hemsworth) shows up in the sixth chapter to turn things upside down.
So with a lot of twists and turns and some unconventional characters, the film turned out to be a pleasant surprise for this viewer, who hadn't heard anything about it until running across the title at my local library. I'd strongly recommend it except for the fact that it won't be appreciated by anyone turned off by chronologically challenged stories with less than savory characters. That would be like getting whacked in the head with a whiskey bottle, which by the way, figures prominently in a particularly jarring scene. One of the many surprises in a film full of them. -
Floated219 June 2019Having heard much praise about this film following its release and since it didn't do well at the box office, it has been labeled as "underrated" and a "hidden gem".
The film starts off interesting and quite different and engaging, when we get introduced to the characters. We expect things to get crazy and unexpected but most that happened was quite predictable and tame. Of course once a character does get killed, things start to get out of hand and we see the other characters panicking and the mystery does start but the film never quite delivers greatness.
Once Chris Hemsworth's character enters with his own title card scene, the film slows and drags down. A decent performance but the film does downhill from here.
The final 20 minutes weren't that great either, and we were left with a disappointing and predictable ending, with a typical gun fight showdown type ending killing all but two of the lead characters. Was expecting some major twists and turns.
Bad Times isn't a great movie or a bad movie but given its hype, it was somewhat disappointing and expected a better finish. -
christopher-underwood8 November 2020For the most part this is a really good, if not excellent film, with a fantastic central performance from Jeff Bridges, ably supported with an equally compelling performance from Londoner Cynthia Erivo who I recently saw in Stephen King's The Outside TV series. beautifully shot and confidently and surely constructed to have us spellbound but not fully aware of just what is going on. Is it the hotel that is weird or just the people? Jon Hamm is great in the early stages and looked a bit like a young Robert de Niro. Things really only go wrong, for me, in the last half hour. The film is certainly some fifteen minutes too long and there is simply too much time allowed for Chris Hemsworth to unconvincingly develop his character and similarly with Lewis Pullman who had been great as the hapless bellboy cum hotel manager but with whom we spend a little too long in the end. Disappointing end or not this is well worth a watch and always going to be worth it for a late great showing from Jeff Bridges, and those 60s songs where even just a line or two can be surprisingly effective, indeed it is 'strange how potent cheap music is.'
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allen03-25-75712418 October 2018Hotel with some dark past, 7 strangers with different stories, different goals. Sounds like promising project. But, I am not satisfied. Everything interesting happened in first 20 minutes of movie where you discover all that matters. After that, when you think plot will make some great turn, when you are expecting something unexpectable, nothing happen. I was especially dissapointed with the end. Movie is not that bad, I gave it a solid mark, but since I had very big expectations I am a little bit dissapointed with that what I saw. I think that this kind of movie has much better potential that this movie didn't produce or just too less.
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Leofwine_draca26 January 2020BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE is a generally likeable crime thriller that keeps you guessing for a while before letting rip with a high-energy climax. It's another single location type movie set in the lobby and various rooms of a slightly sleazy motel, but the good news is that it's a lot more intelligent than Tarantino's similar HATEFUL EIGHT. The first half takes a little while to get going with character stories presented as sub-plots that mingle together in a way similar to the likes of 11:14, although not quite as good. The ending really picks up with actors such as Jeff Bridges and Chris Hemsworth shining in against-type roles, and the unknown-to-me cast members pull off effective performances too. Not quite a classic, but still a fun way to spend an hour or two.
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SnoopyStyle26 December 2018It's 1969 Lake Tahoe on the border between California and Nevada. El Royale is an empty destination motorlodge with its best days well behind it. Four strangers check in with the hotel's only employee Miles Miller. Catholic priest Daniel Flynn, singer Darlene Sweet, salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan, and Emily Summerspring arrive with some hiding secrets.
This is a stylish pulpy noir action thriller from Drew Goddard. I do like most of it but there is a little too much of it. I'm not sure if it needs the tape. There're like two MacGuffins. Concentrating on one MacGuffin usually works better. When Billy Lee shows up, it gets to be craziness overload. At that point, I want the characters to gather in one place and have a climatic conflict. I don't really want to insert another character. Drew obviously expects that more is better. It's a little too more. -
Mr-Fusion17 June 2023A pretty solid crime thriller with loads of retro cool, a well-stocked cast and gorgeous cinematography - and a glut of extraneous flashbacks. If Bad Times at the El Royale has a weakness, it's pacing. It's not a problem during the opening act, as the hotel's emptiness (as well as who the hell are these people?) offers ample intrigue. Plus, there are the sets, I mean this looks incredible. But eventually night falls, backstories start piling up and ... it's enough already.
I have the same problem with El Royale that I did with The Hateful Eight; lots of talent and craft put into the film overall, but it's never again as good as its opening.
And absurdly long-winded. -
AlsExGal31 December 2022...from 20th Century Fox and writer-director Drew Goddard. Circa 1972, various characters, including a doddering priest (Jeff Bridges), a struggling singer (Cynthia Erivo), a traveling salesman (Jon Hamm), and an anti-social mystery woman (Dakota Johnson), converge on the title locale, a former hot spot that straddles the California/Nevada border that has started to go to seed. Each person has their own reasons for being there, and most are not what they profess. Their secrets are revealed over one long, stormy, bloody night.
Goddard was responsible for the excellent horror genre send-up The Cabin in the Woods back in 2011, and this is his long-awaited follow-up. It's nowhere near as good, in my opinion, but fans of crime thrillers going in with diminished expectations will find a watch worthwhile. Bridges is very good, as is Cynthia Erivo, who I wasn't familiar with but who, at the time of release, garnered a lot of awards buzz for her performance here. I also liked Lewis (son of Bill) Pullman as the hotel's struggling sole employee in attendance.
The movie starts to fall flat in the last stretch, when Chris Hemsworth, as a Manson-esque cult leader, shows up and the film's former momentum grinds to a screeching halt. I don't dislike Hemsworth normally, but he's all sculpted abs and chiseled looks, and his character needed a bit more than that to make the last act compelling. -
Genti2630 December 2018It baffles me that this movie did not get better reviews than it did. Bad Times at the El Royale, is incredible, as the story is intriguing and all the actors get your attention with Chris Hemsworth standing out at the end. The action scenes are great, the cinematography and the soundtrack also stand out a lot. This is just a fun movie all the way through and to me personally, it is one of the best films of the year.
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brendanm-7446525 June 2019The first half or so was very good but the second half was completely botched. Hemsworth nailed his character but his character was not really necessary. The whole sub plot with Rosie and Hemsworth was just weird and made the ending not so great.
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chmuptacular2 October 2018Go into this film knowing nothing. Part of me wishes I hadn't seen both trailers because even though they didn't reveal much of the films plot, I would've loved to have been surprised. Hemsworth gives his best performance yet. He is truly menacing. He is what a Negan should've been on the past couple of Walking Dead seasons. The music is great! Cinematography is great! The hotel set is great! The one downside is that the build up is a wee bit slow, but it definitely pays off when the action and mystery begins.
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JohnDeSando12 October 2018Writer/director Drew Goddard's Bad Times at the El Royale is a long and entertaining sendup of Quentin Tarantino's crime world (think Hateful 8 and Pulp Fiction), post-Tarantino caper movies, and a bit of Hitchcock for suspense. It's the late 60's when eccentric characters converge on the seedy El Royale motel to recover cash from a heist 10 years ago hidden under the floorboards of a room.
By far the most interesting visitor is Father Daniel Flynn, aka Dock O'Kelly (Jeff Bridges), who set the heist in motion back then, did time for it, and returns to the half-closed motel to recover the loot. As symbol of a corrupt society that still clings to some semblance of religiosity, Flynn navigates the other crooks with caution.
Until the incarnation of the devil, or at least Charles Manson, arrives, Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth), muscled and amoral but not loath to preach about a simple life for his devotees and seek the money for himself. With the motel's roaring fireplaces enfolding these untrustworthy survivors, Goddard must surely be thinking of hell on earth as earthlings grapple for lucre.
Surprises abound (be careful with that shotgun!), and not all the players make it out alive. Heck, even undercover cops are vulnerable. And women, watch out, for the bad girls are trigger happy. The exception is a lounge singer, Darlene Sweet (impressive Tony winner, Cynthia Erivo), who needs to hookup with the corrupt priest to escape this hell, but with loot.
The location is Lake Tahoe on the border of Nevada and California, a figurative crossroads for everyone, where the wrong step can take you to life or death. I'm beginning to sound like Twilight Zone's Rod Serling, and rightfully so because there's a claustrophobia to these surroundings, wherein the sins of mankind are scrutinized for their immorality, where redemption is rare, and a lesson can be learned.
As Father Flynn candidly comments, "I'm Old. S**t happens. Get the whiskey." That's Goddard's charmingly amoral world, where even a priest has issues. -
robrt-curtis629 June 2019This movie should have been about 30 minutes shorter. Scenes go on for way too long, the director hangs on shots that need to end, there's too much dialogue in places, etc. It's well shot, but he isn't like Tarantino where he can get away with it and keep it interesting the whole time.
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jg_197713 October 2018First off let me say, Bat Times at the El Royale is most certainly not for everyone. The way the story unfolds and how information is withheld/presented is quite complex. Although this may make it a bit too convoluted for some, it makes it an absolute treat for anyone willing to dig beneath the surface and get analytical. Not unlike Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard's directorial debut), Bad Times plays with your expectations. Goddard takes painstaking care to build tension throughout a scene, only to have it all upended by a sudden twist. For that reason, I anticipate the reaction to this film will be divided, as many moviegoers simply don't like surprises or being unsure of what will happen. However, if you are a fan of Goddard's previous work, it's a safe bet that you'll like this one. I also need to talk about the cast, as they deliver an absolute treasure of an ensemble performance. Each person plays their part incredibly well, but Cynthia Erivo and Chris Hemsworth are the definite stand outs. Hemsworth especially shines, showing us that he can do more than play a quippy Norse god. This movie has so much to unpack both visually and in terms of foreshadowing that I cannot wait to see it again. If you're looking for a smart, stylish, and generally thrilling way to spend a few hours, look no further than Bad Times at the El Royale.
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logandenyer1714 October 2018The movie drags on. It has interesting characters but the movie is much longer than it needed to be, I was fairly happy to be walking out of the cinema
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Fella_shibby23 December 2018The film starts with a man moving all the items of a hotel room in one corner, he then removes the carpet n the floorboards, stashes a bag underneath n puts back all the things in place. After he has finished his mysterious work..... Fast forward ten years n destiny brings together a group of people who all end up at this same hotel on a dark rainy night due to different circumstances. Comparison to The Identity is present but please do not compare it to Tarantino style films jus cos it has a nonlinear approach. Fellas who r comparing the nonlinear film style to Tarantino's films ain't aware of Jean-Luc Godard, the pioneer of nonlinear filmmaking. Is it a coincidence that the surname of the director of this film too is Goddard. Drew Goddard is in full Jean-Luc Godard-esque mood. Attention is required as every person at the El Royale has a story n the background story of all the characters were properly interwined. Some of the scenes r way too slow n the editing needed some post production work. Jus few days back i saw Chronicles of the Ghostly tribe n i wrote in its review that the flashbacks were confusing n not at all gripping but in El Royale the flashbacks were intriguing n not at all confusing. The film is visually striking and offers a high level of ambience. It has lots of eerie mood, good suspense, a great sense of dread throughout. The background story of one of the character which is shown towards the end is a bit shocking n well placed. The owners of the hotel remained mystery but that is another story.....
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Bad Times at the El Royale is a movie about 4 guests who check into a hotel and a hotel manager/housekeeper/concierge/bellhop * Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman), who is the only hotel employee and supposedly a meek beta-male who turns out to be a badass super soldier. * Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who is supposedly a priest, but turns out to be an ex bank robber looking to get the money his brother left under the hotel floor. * Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson) who is supposedly just a hippee that turns out to be some supposedly evil kidnapper that turns out kidnapping her daughter (so she's not bad) that turns out to be someone perfectly fine with killin a cop. * Laramie Seymour Sullivan (John Hamm) is supposedly a vacuum cleaner salesman that turns out to be a FBI agent or something. * Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo) who is supposedly a singer that turns out to be... oh wait, she really is a singer. c-c-c-combo breaker!!
5 people, 4 of whom are fake. Coincidence!
The cop is investigating the hotel, where we find it has a secret corridor that can film all the occupants through a 1 way mirror.
Anyway, stuff happens, Thor , er Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth) comes in as some sort of hippie cult leader, but everyone bad dies. Flynn and Darlene escape because they're good, well Flynn did rob a bank and they both ran away with the money, but meh. Also, Sullivan is an FBI agent with a wife and little kid, and he died, but again, meh. Agent Sullivan notified his superiors, was promptly shot, and nothing ever mentioned again about him or the investigation. It was the most interesting part too... wish they had done something with that instead. but no, seeing Emily with a shotgun and a hostage, Sullivan decides to bump her in the head and not secure the area or the kidnapper so that she can shoot him in the chest. .
The movie started off really nice and I felt I was in for something special, but it ended up just being a hostage movie that went nowhere until the end.
6/10. I wasn't bored, but it did seem long. There were a couple of nice scenes (Darlene popping Billy Lee's persona for one, Cyntia Erivo's singing, Miles at the end), but really nothing to make the movie memorable. 6/10 -
TateJ3rd12 October 2018This movie was ok. It wasn't good and it wasn't bad, it was kind of just...there.
It's a little too long. At times boring. Tries a little too hard to be like Tarantino but doesn't give you the satisfying payoff.
The beginning started off good and had me interested in the characters. But after a while it felt like this movie wasn't going anywhere. There isn't any real twist or turns and it was very predictable as to who was going to survive in the end. I guess the writer had a good idea at start but he didn't know how to end it. Just a bunch of random violence.
So out of a score of 10, I would give it a 5. Right in the middle. Started off good but fizzled out towards the end, especially when Chris Hemsworth's character shows up and slows the movie way down. There is a better movie out there similar to this and it's called Identity. And it has a way better ending.