Film Review: Bad Times At The El Royale Is The Future of Noir
Bad Times At The El Royale was thriller excellence. Writer and Director Drew Goddard has made a modern noir that had me questioning EVERYONE! While the film, in trailer, presents itself as a “who walks out alive/who can you trust” sort of game; the truth is, in Bad a Times At The El Royale, no one is who they say they are because everybody has multiple identities.
Goddard has written a film that makes you wonder if, inevitably, we are all liars. Not simply because we alter or omit truths, but because we have yet to discover them for ourselves. As you watch each character, especially through flashbacks, find their way to the California/Nevada division of The El Royale, no one is who they are even to themselves. Self -delusion is as prominent as the lies we tell others, and you watch enamored as you watch the stellar cast uncover each other’s delusions,
The key to Goddard’s masterpiece is that it is driven by its characters, their “morals,” and their goals. Jeff Bridges wryly plays the “non-priest,” Father Daniel Flynn; a man eager to attain a stolen money and feel a sense of peace after living a raucous life. His scenes are mostly with the DIAMOND of this film: Cynthia Erivo’s Darlene Sweet. This songstress has a voice that enraptures, and a sweet nobility that will honey the audience to feel like, if they are anyone in this crazy motel, it is her. She simply feels like “us” as she is surrounded by characters that are distinct, insane, and, though good on film, would be horrendous to cross in real life such as, Chris Hemsworth’s Billy Lee.
If Chris Hemsworth feels like beginning a career aa a villain, after seeing this film, I fully welcome it. He walks with such a diabolical confidence that his mere entrance into the movie completely alters it. While the first half of Bad Times At The El Royale drives on the different perspectives/ motives behind a murder, the other half turns the audience into a witness of a mass murder.Initially, you fall for each character by observing their reactions and choices to staying at El Royale even after they find out its dangers and mysterious intentions as a “motel.” In this half, Jon Hamm’s Laramie Seymour Sullivan and Lewis Pullman’s Miles shine as two characters that are not who they seem, but are also lost, in identity, thanks to who they call their “boss.” Authority, as a layered and commanding energy, is a major theme in Bad Times At The El Royale.
Characters like, Dakota Johnson’s Emily Summerspring and Cailee Spaeny’s Ruth Summerspring form a magnetizing triumvirate, with Billy Lee, of mischief, death, and commentaries on cults. These ladies enthrall as two opposing sisters that rock like planets orbiting the fiery, evil sun that is Billy Lee. As the movie is divided into chapters and splashed with flashbacks, I found theirs the most intriguing but also the reason Bad Times At The El Royale can feel like two films in one.You have the “cult side” and then you have its beginning: the “character side.” While both are equally engaging and gorgeously shot to feel like the neo- noirs of the future, how they unite in plot is certainly twisted and takes the movie over an edge you did not expect. Yet, maybe, that was the point.
I have not seen a movie like Bad Times At The El Royale in recent cinema and, maybe, ever! It is so original it becomes a distinct movie experience that is more than just good; it is thought-provoking. You want to re-watch just to grasp every detail Goddard leaves in images, characters, and ideas about humanity. Bad Times At The El Royal Open In Theaters October 12.
