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Bad Times at the El Royale Movie Review

Bad Times at the El Royale is a 2018 neo-noir thriller film directed by Drew Goddard and starring Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo and Dakota Johnson. It’s a flawed, but fun flick.

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“We might need to work on your sales pitch, son.

The El Royale: no place for a priest“

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Set in 1969, the plot follows seven strangers each hiding dark secrets, who all come to a head one night in a shady hotel. Yes, this is literally the 1969 hotel version of ‘The Hateful Eight’ as it’s very similar to it both in its concept and in slow then bloody and fast execution. It did not bother me that it was unoriginal in that regard because this is still a great concept and the late 60s time period and hotel setting certainly brought a lot of needed authenticity to it.

Being similar to that underrated, but flawed Tarantino flick, Bad Times at the El Royale shares its strengths and flaws as well. I loved the first half as it was slow but very engaging and such a successful build-up really well executed. All of the stories and characters were intriguing there. But the second half ruined that because it introduced to much violence, action and chaos into the proceedings. Whereas it was previously clever and subtle, it then became aggressively over-the-top.

The movie has a huge cast of whom everyone did a good job, but Chris Hemsworth’s character did not work all that much. Miles Miller is a terrific, wonderfully developed character who’s the deepest and most compelling of them all here. Lewis Pullman’s performance is stupendous. Rose and Dwight are forgettable, but Dakota Johnson is quite memorable in at first villainous, but later twisted on its head, great role. Jeff Bridges plays a robber pretending to be a father superbly per usual for him, but to me the highlight is Cynthia Erivo who did a great job for a newcomer. Her character is very likable and the two share a terrific dynamic.

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Bad Times at the El Royale is beautifully shot, very well written in script and especially dialogue while also giving each character a solid backstory and connecting everything and every one of them so deftly. Drew Goddard truly did deliver an unusually good job here in the directorial chair. I just wish the third act was more sophisticated.

Cynthia Erivo steals the show in Bad Times at the El Royale along with Jeff Bridges and interestingly enough Dakota Johnson. Those three play the most interesting characters with the best stories. This flick is basically the late 60s hotel version of ‘The Hateful Eight’ and it also shares both its strengths and weaknesses – it’s technically superb, the build-up is excellent and the stories are well connected, but the third act is chaotic and over-the-top.

My Rating – 4