Bad Times at the El Royale
The very first scene in Drew Goddard's Bad Times at the El Royale sets the course for the rest of the film: a long take, followed by a snappily-edited sequence, interrupted by an explosion of violence. This template creates tension in bursts throughout the film but doesn’t allow for any deeper themes to emerge or meaning to be obtained from the two hour twenty-one minute runtime.
To be sure, Bad Times can be a harrowing experience. The explosions of violence come suddenly and swiftly, leaving a ringing in your ear and, sometimes, puzzlement in your mind. Goddard’s previous film, The Cabin in the Woods, provided a lot more thought-provoking shocks than Bad Times. Cabin deconstructed the horror film and skewered the modern day horror movie audience. Unfortunately, his latest work does not offer any such subliminal (or not-so-subliminal) messages.
Bad Times starts off with a simple premise that becomes a complex web of interwoven flashbacks, temporary alliances, and back stabbings. Seven strangers all meet at a hotel in one night, each with their own secrets. Jeff Bridges is Father Daniel Flynn, Cynthia Erivo is struggling singer Darlene Sweet, Dakota Johnson is hippie Emily, Jon Hamm is vacuum seller Laramie Seymour Sullivan, Chris Hemsworth is Billy Lee, Cailee Spaeny is Rose, and Lewis Pullman is the hotel’s only employee: Miles Miller. Take each character with a grain of salt, though: almost no one is who they say they are.
Information is parcelled out in several vignettes, each focusing on a different character’s backstory. Some of them include flashbacks, some do not. The structure is inventive, but it does not work as well as it does in any of Tarantino’s films, for example. This is because the segments and flashbacks all feel mostly similar to each other, several even replaying the same event from different viewpoints. Where Tarantino mines these types of vignettes for comedy gold, the information gleaned from each segment here does not feel earned. Goddard, who also wrote the script, simply hands out the information, with little context before or reflection afterwards.
Despite my complaints, Bad Times is still a good time. Goddard’s stylistic flourishes, including the lush colours and production design, sleek editing, and wonderfully retro soundtrack, all combine to make Bad Times highly enjoyable. The film is compiled of long scenes stuffed with wonderful character interactions.
These interactions are the perfect stage on which the stellar cast can show off. Hamm, charismatic as always, provides a large part of the dialogue in the first half of the film, but overall his character has little impact on the plot. Erivo, in her feature film debut, and Bridges, clearly having a good time, steal the show. Erivo is the most “relatable” of the characters; the good person caught up in a bad situation. Her singing is also amazing, in particular her beautiful rendition of You Can’t Hurry Love, in an especially tense scene.
The rest of the cast fills out quite nicely. Johnson gives a subtle performance that works well. Pullman does an excellent job here, showing a real vulnerability that is palpable. Finally, Hemsworth, appearing late in the film, has a great deal of fun with his character and energizes his scenes.
Stylistically and in terms of acting ability, Bad Times is a fun ride. From the 60’s sets to the Motown hits, to the quick editing and the great ensemble cast, Bad Times fulfills its promise of an entertaining almost-two-and-a-half hours. On a deeper, more structural level, there are a few flaws in the design. However, the product is packaged in such an appealing way that its flaws are barely noticeable •
{★★½☆