With his writing on Cloverfield, The Martian, and his directorial debut with The Cabin In The Woods, Drew Goddard has immediately made himself a talent to watch. Six years after his debut, we finally have – the amazingly titled – Bad Times At The El Royale. It’s a darkly comedic thriller, among a handful of other genres – that is set in 1969, and involves several strangers who happen to arrive at the El Royale Hotel at the same time. The hotel is a gimmicky one, in which one half is located in Nevada, while the other half is in California, but it’s heyday is in its past, and is now attended to solely by Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman). The initial strangers are salesman, Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm), a priest, Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a struggling singer, Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), and a mysterious woman, Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson).
Similar to Cabin In The Woods, the film throws characters in a space where they are forced to deal in strange, and increasingly bizarre circumstances that are beyond their control. Everyone here has a secret, even Miles has secrets of his own, in terms of the going-ons at the hotel. There are comparisons that have been made to Quentin Tarantino, in terms of the stylistic choices, and there’s some validity to it, but it’s mostly superficial. There’s the time hopping, shifting perspectives, the violence, the snappy, borderline overwritten dialogue, and a memorable soundtrack. Hell, even the last Tarantino film involved a bunch of strangers cramped in a small space, which led to violence. However, Goddard’s craftsmanship and mastery behind the camera is beyond the many Tarantino knock-offs that plagued the 90s, even some of the good ones.
The film is best experienced knowing nothing, which is why I kept the plot details vague. There are some fun twists and turns, some even delivered in playful jump scare-esque shock moments. But at the same time, as plotty as it is, it’s ultimately the characters that keep it engaging. Because of Goddard’s choice to have every character hold a secret, put on a facade, or play a role, it creates an interesting and constantly evolving dynamic between the characters, and it keeps you wanting to know more about them, which the film delivers, especially when it comes to a climax as Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth) enters the picture in the final act. I’m curious to see it a second time, just so I can better absorb the details that are placed here, and how they inform the characters and their actions. I love it when I finish a film, and my first impulse is to watch it all over again.
The film is beautifully made. It’s shot on 35mm by cinematographer, Seamus McGarvey, and the production designer, Martin Whist, who also worked on Cabin In The Woods, really bring the hotel to life. The costumes are wonderful, the colors are lush, and Michael Giacchino does wonderful work on his score as well. The film is lengthy, nearing a whopping two-and-a-half hours, which will likely test the patience of many mainstream audience members, but because the performances are engaging, and the film is so gorgeously crafted, there’s never a dull second in the film.
The film is definitely not going to be for everybody. Not only due to the length, but it does have traits that can put people off. It’s very indulgent, it’s perhaps too knowingly clever, it digresses, it lingers, it’s seemingly random what information is given and what is kept hidden, and it also explores uncomfortable truths about sins of the past that remain relevant to this day, some of these are done in obvious metaphors, and some not so obvious. It’s kind of all over the place, arguably sloppy in execution, and perhaps too ambitious of a juggling act for Goddard, but those aspects never registered to me as problems as I was watching the film, they actually gave the film a scrappy charm.
The film may be called Bat Times At The El Royale, but I had an amazing time watching it. It’s a dark, layered, and challenging film that never forgets to be wild, weird, and profoundly entertaining. I typically have a low tolerance for films that seem too eager to impress with their cleverness, but Drew Goddard knows how to bring a good balance with his storytelling, and he knows not to spell everything out for his audience, allowing them to pick things up for themselves. He rides a very specific wavelength here, and if you’re willing to go with it, I can’t imagine one not enjoying the ride. The performances are uniformly excellent (star making for Erivo specifically), the story takes turns that are delightfully nasty and surprising, it’s an incredible film just to look at and experience, it’s honestly an embarrassment of riches. It might be a bit of an odd trip of a movie for some, but I thought it was a trip absolutely worth taking.