Bad Times at the El Royale (Review)

It Turns Out Bad Times at the El Royale is a Great Time in Theaters.

I’ve been looking forward to Bad Times at the El Royale ever since I saw the first trailer, which usually means I’m setting myself up for disappointment. Luckily for me, this proved to not only meet my expectations but it quite possibly could be one of my favorite movies of 2018. Thanks to a brilliant, character-driven script by Drew Goddard and one of the most impressive ensemble casts of the year (outside of Infinity War), Bad Times at the El Royale manages to keep you guessing from start to finish as it slowly reveals that nothing in this sleepy hotel is what it seems.

I honestly have no idea where to start with this film. Everything about it comes together beautifully. At the center of the story are a group of travelers who check in one fateful night to the bi-state establishment The El Royale. At the center of the cast are the likes of Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, and Cynthia Erivo, who all check at the same time for various unsettling reasons. Each of them are given characters to work with that are subtle, yet incredibly charismatic. As Bad Times at the El Royale goes on, Drew Goddard reveals layers and layers to the characters and it’s hard not to feel yourself getting drawn in further with each additional layer. The beautiful thing about Goddard’s storytelling though is that because this is very much a character-driven film, it never feels like it’s bogging itself down by taking the time to really flesh them out. In fact, the characters are all so enthralling that the 2 hour and 21 minute run time seems to just fly by.

While Goddard might have created incredibly rich characters on paper, it’s thanks to the incredible actors he’s gathered for Bad Times at the El Royale that makes it such a resounding success. It’s difficult to find just one or two performances to highlight in this review though because everyone is just so spectacular at bringing these characters to life and keeping their eccentricities subtle enough that they don’t seem like gimmicks. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Jeff Bridges and after seeing him in the role as a priest with a dark past, I’m an even bigger fan. However, the actor that surprised me the most though was the young Tom Holland who plays the front desk clerk of the El Royale and is haunted by the terrible things he’s seen throughout his tenure there. The emotional depth that he displays prove that he’s an actor to keep an eye on in the future. Of course, everyone really knocks it out of the park and it’s refreshing to see so many of them taking on roles that seem so far from what audiences typically associate with them.

The narrative structure used by Goddard to tell this tale is perfect. Instead of telling one cohesive tale, he focuses on each of the characters, showing how things unfold from their perspective through the film. That means that characters the might meet a grisly fate at one point in the film return again as the film switches to another’s perspective of the events unfolding. It also gives Goddard the chance to completely blindside audiences repeatedly with sequences that will literally leave jaws dropped only to return later to elaborate on the events leading up to them. In other words, there are a lot of balls in the air throughout Bad Times at the El Royale, but Goddard never drops one of them and proves himself to not only be one of the best writers working in Hollywood right now, but a man who needs to start spending more time behind the camera as well.

For me, Bad Times at the El Royale is the very definition of a Hitchcockian thriller. It sets itself up in such as way where everything seems normal at the beginning, but then slowly turns everything you think you know on its ear. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a movie filled with red herrings to throw you off your guard, but instead, its one that only reveals what you need to know (or rather deserve to know) at the moment. Just as you start to figure things out, another reveal is unveiled showing that things can always go from bad to worse for the guest of the El Royale. All of the twists and turns never feel like they’re thrown in to help make it more of a thriller, instead they all flow organically out of the tale, but because of the structure of Bad Times at the El Royale you never really seem them coming until it’s too late.

I’m a huge fan of this film already and cannot recommend it highly enough. The cast is made up of some of the best of the best in Hollywood right now and they’re all at the top of their game. Not only that but they have a director who manages to give them the perfect stage for them bring the most out of the rich characters they’re given. Bad Times at the El Royale is definitely going to be one of my personal top 10 movies of the year and I hope you give it a chance. While it might have a beast of a runtime, you won’t even notice it as you slowly move towards the edge of your seat in this modern classic thriller.