Truly the stars have aligned, well……..not for the characters in this film – disaster awaits there – but in the name-dropping excess of the celebrities; Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth and newcomers, Cailee Spaeny and Lewis Pullman. All shining in a film chock-full of bad times; where everyone is suspicious, sinister figures abound, and there’s so much cunning and mystery that you can’t afford to take your eyes of the screen for a second, and why would you want to? Bad Times at the El Royale is a display of cinematography at its best, with the other departments matching its height; costumes, camerawork, scores, dialogue all fitting the lavish set designs that will have you itching to stay at the hotel El Royale, that is until you come to know of its secrets and those that dwell in its most murderous of nights.
At Lake Tahoe there sits a once-glamourous hotel, the El Royale, where the rich, famous, and infamous once visited, and what’s so unusual about the hotel (and a great concept for a movie) is that it borders two states: California and Nevada. A prominent red line of separation running through the centre of the car park and hotel, and with it come two different styles to represent the states – “warmth and sunshine to the West” being California, “or hope and opportunity to the East” for Nevada. But there’s no warmth here, except in the charismatic and just plain beautiful voice of Cynthia Erivo, or in the fiery hell that Hemsworth brings.
In this hotel everyone seems a suspect to something criminal, and while some stories may intertwine, most come together in a beautiful melody of disaster. But still their pasts, whether running from it, or towards it, are much grimier than you may at first suspect, and far from being predictable – which is a large part of the film’s appeal, as is the hotel’s sole employee, Miles Miller (played by Lewis Pullman). His innocuous appearance making him delightfully suspicious and yet loveable, while his story is one of the most interesting. Pullman’s acting as Miles is fantastic, and for all the stars in the film he does not disappear behind them, but matches their performance and maybe raises it a width of a hair higher.
Set in the late 1960s the film primarily stays in this period, but in revealing the characters’ secrets they travel back to different snippets of their lives, whether it’s by weeks or decades, and in doing so uncovers the reason for each one being at the hotel.
In having so many stories, it’s not surprising that the hotel feels just as alive as Stephen King’s from The Shining, and it’s just as evil. Opening the film and setting its tone, the hotel invites us to share a secret as we look side-on into one of its hotel rooms. Here the furniture is being carefully moved, its carpet rolled back and floorboards raised. For something’s being hidden. Then with attentive care the room’s occupant returns it back to its earlier immaculate state, making the room appear harmless. But with a knock on the door the occupant’s blood is suddenly sprayed, covering our view and making us party to its secret crimes. It’s from here that the film shoots forward ten years; to seven strangers, each with several stories, in one dark and rainy night.
Like the dividing sides of the hotel, the characters are divided in their reasons for being there; either in hope of changing the past or in surrendering to its darkness. Bad Times at the El Royale is a leading example of how to do mystery, build tension, and to really show the greys of people, in particular how the good can turn really bad. But can they turn back?
Director & Writer: Drew Goddard
Other notable works:
- The Good Place 2016-2020
- Daredevil 2015-2018
- The Martian 2015
- The Cabin in the Woods 2011
- Lost 2004-2010
- Alias 2001-2006
- Angel 1999-2004
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1997-2003
