A bit too long-winded but still quite entertaining and definitely constructed with considerable narrative skill and cinematic style, Bad Times at the El Royale is a stylish neo-noir mystery that benefits from a great soundtrack, terrific production design (Marin Whist), and slick cinematography (Seamus McGarvey), with strong performances from a cool ensemble.
The less you know about the twisty plot the better, but I will say, if you’ve seen the fantastic trailers, this isn’t quite the movie you might be expecting; it certainly went against what I’d been anticipating.
Written and directed by Drew Goddard, who also wrote or co-wrote Cloverfield, World War Z, The Martian, and episodes of Lost, and wrote and directed the cult favorite horror-comedy The Cabin in the Woods (LOVE that movie!), it’s clear that he’s a storyteller who loves to pile on plot developments while withholding as many story cards as possible in order to keep you guessing, and even if the ultimate reveals here don’t provoke the WOW FACTOR that I’d been hoping for, this is still a fairly wild ride, leading up to a strong finish.
I do wonder if this would have been a more satisfying television series, where all of the various characters might’ve been explored a bit more, as the feature-film pacing felt a bit off, and I think more time with all of the various ingredients might’ve better served the dense material.
Available on Blu-ray/DVD and via various streaming providers.
Review by Nick Clement
Summary
There’s a lot going on in this movie and sometimes it felt as if the momentum came to a halt in order to showcase something visually interesting or another plot strand, to say nothing of the various musical numbers that inform the story. It’s a heady mix and thankfully it DOES make sense.
