There are a few directors that I keep on my radar. Shane Black. Quentin Tarantino. James Wan. Etc. And Drew Goddard is definitely on the list. He began as essentially Joss Whedon's protege with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, but he broke away and started making films that really fit his own style. The best being Cabin in the Woods and The Martian. Cabin in the Woods was one of the biggest surprises I've ever had with seeing a movie. What looked like the standard "teens rent a cabin in the woods and get picked off one by one" fare soon became one of the most inventive and darkly hilarious horror movies I've ever seen. The amount of creativity and satire in that movie (plus the ballsy ending) put Goddard on the map for me immediately. The Martian was cool to see, just knowing that Goddard had made a name for himself in Hollywood, but it was based off of previous source material. I kept anticipating the next original Goddard film. And it has finally arrived. Bad Times at the El Royale has the same dark humor and unnerving nature as Cabin in the Woods and definitely adds to an already impressive resume Goddard is crafting for himself. The movie is so freakin cool.
I know I get into this often - but this movie is one you should go into with as little knowledge as possible. It's a whodunnit of sorts, paired with a slowly unraveling mystery, and a bunch of well-rounded and unhinged characters all set at a hotel in the 60s on the border of California and Nevada. Suffice it to say that I'm not going to spoil anything for you. However, if you need just the slightest of nudges this is what you will get from me - a group of strangers (among them: Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Cynthia Erivo, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, and Chris Hemsworth) arrive at the El Royale hotel, each with a dark secret that, throughout the film, gets revealed slowly but surely. And then, well... then things go absolutely fucking bonkers. That's all you get. Don't look up trailers on YouTube or spoilers on Wikipedia. You will have so much more of a good time watching this mystery unravel in real time if you go into it as blindly as possible.
It really is a cleverly crafted thriller (noir?) with characters that are livelier than you normally expect in a genre like this. Each character has enough likability and depth that you root for each one, even though not all of them are exactly characters you'd normally find yourself rooting for. I wish I could tell you that there's a clear standout of the ensemble, but everyone does such a fantastic job that it's hard to pick just one. Sure, Jon Hamm is always welcome in anything like this. Jeff Bridges is aging like a fine wine and in that comes a very rich character that is both terrifying and humbling. Cynthia Erivo (whose singing provides most of the soundtrack of the film) is FANTASTIC. If I was forced to pick a winner of "stealing the show", it'd be her because her acting, coupled with her beautifully powerful singing voice, seriously drives the movie. But, then comes in Chris Hemsworth playing completely against character as a totally screwed-up cult leader (yeah, this movie is nuts) who demands your attention and deserves your gaze. Dakota Johnson proves she's more than just a 50 Shades of Grey caliber actress. Hell, even the "unknowns" of the movie make Bad Times at the El Royale the crisp and cool movie that I've been thinking about ever since walking out of the theater.
The one thing I will tell you as an audience member, you have to have patience with the movie. The run time of the film is 2 hours and 21 minutes, so it takes its time getting into the meat of the story. It really examines its characters and spends ample time with each one so you get to know who they are in and out. It's a slow burn that relies heavily on the exhilarant atmosphere and cool 60s soundtrack (along with Erivo's singing) to build up to the bloody climax that is 100% worth the wait. I'm not saying it's a slog to get through either. There's enough tension to snap your mind in half. Goddard creates a world that can't help but put a bad feeling in your stomach. You remember the first time you saw Inglourious Basterds and how nauseatingly nervous you felt during the first ten minutes of that movie? It was so nerve-wrenching because you know Tarantino and you know that literally anything horrible could happen out of nowhere. That's the film Goddard has created. It's nearly two and a half hours of that nervousness that's almost too much to bear, but you've suffered this long you have to find out how it ends.
Bad Times at the El Royale is like one of those old paperback noir novels where the pages have turned yellow and the front cover has been bent and a couple of the edges have somehow been burned. And it's great. You can't put it down. You read it cover-to-cover in a night because you're so invested in everyone and everything happening. That's the beauty of this movie. Whatever you think is going to go wrong - does. And whatever you think is going to happen - doesn't. Don't sleep on this movie. It's dark, it's funny, it's gritty, it's bloody, it's wholly original and I haven't seen a movie with such an intoxicating atmosphere in such a long time that I'm going to be talking this movie up forever. If you're going out to the theater this weekend, give your money to an original idea that certainly desreves every penny you're going to spend.
A
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