Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) Review

“Howdy”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

The worst thing that can happen in a vacation is when the unexpected affects you severely. That couldn’t be any more obvious with Bad Times at the El Royale.


PLOT


The 2018 film takes place in 1969 where a titular hotel was once popular with the wealthy until losing its gambling license, straddling the California-Nevada borders. It’s currently ran by heroin addict/Vietnam war veteran Miles Miller who checks in four people that are complete strangers to one another: Special Agent Dwight Broadbeck under the alias of salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan, aspiring Darlene Sweet, Hope Emily Summerspring and career criminal Daniel ‘Dock’ O’Kelly under the alias of Father Daniel Flynn. Once checking in, Dwight finds a ton of wiretaps in his room and when roaming around, he steals the master key to find a secret corridor that observes the rooms in one way mirrors and film them with a camera. He sees Darlene singing in her room and Flynn looking for something under the floorboards in his, while Emily brings another woman into hers unwillingly. He checks in with J Edgar Hoover about what he’s seen via payphone and he intrsucts him to focus on retrieving the surveillance material. Instead, he acts rationally and tries saving the other woman before getting shot down by Emily. 10 years prior, Dock and his brother Felix (Nick Offerman) had their last robbery botched and the latter was instructed to hide the money in the El Royale before being fatally betrayed by accomplices. Dock would serve a decade in prison and would be out on parole due to having a failing memory. Because of his condition leading to him forgetting the real room number, he has to lure out Darlene and tries to drug her long enough to look for the money. But because she picks up on his suspicious behavior, she knocks him out with a glass bottle and tries leaving. She’s unable to due to Dwight being instructed to keep everyone from leaving by sabotaging the cars, as Hoover believed the mission was compromised. When Dock gets back up, he finds the corridor too and confronts Miles of it who replies he’s ordered by his superiors to record intimate encounters. He even shows him a film reel that can incriminate a deceased public figure but shortly after, he sees the conflict between Dwight & Emily and he gets injured in the crossfire. Dock leaves him to go after Darlene and explain his intentions, promising to split the money if he finds it in her room. Emily confronts Miles of the corridor and confesses her hostage is her sister Rose. What she doesn’t tell him is that she’s trying to save her from cult leader Billy Lee. She roams the corridor and doesn’t see Dock successfully find the money this time, but all get held hostage by Billy Lee and his cult who was called by Rose of her whereabouts. As he takes control of everyone, he kills Emily in a game of roulette between her and Miles. Before he can do the same with the others, Dock intervenes and Miles uses his sniper skills to wipe out the whole cult. Rose would be so distraught of losing Billy Lee that she would fatally stab him before being shot by Dock. Before drawing his last breath, Dock would give Miles the chance to absolve of his guilt despite not being a priest. As the hotel gets caught on fire due to the fire losing control from the pits as both parties fought, he splits the money with Darlene as planned and she destroys the film reel, knowing it won’t solve anything. The film ends in an epilogue where Dock sees Darlene perform in a casino lounge.


THOUGHTS


I was patiently waiting for Drew Goddard to make another thrilling adventure following the meta horror flick, The Cabin the Woods. The second you hear the combo of Michael Giacchino’s intense score and a retro jukebox soundtrack, you know this will be a whole new experience to be enamored about. The editing and cinematography is so effective in establishing the hyperlink narrative where everything happens all at once and steps are taken back in order to make sure every detail has proper attention. Moments like revealing the corridor, Billy Lee have an intimidating dance while having dessert, showing Felix hide the money in the opening before dying, or Dock later searching for it undetected in sync to Darlene’s singing are just the right handful of moments that define what cinema is all about out to me. The costumes even look great in matching the period it’s based on. In the long run, this one impresses me most for how it boldly explains how the line of good and evil is quite blurry. We all make our mistakes in the past that only influence what we can do in the present and if you choose to stand for good henceforth, you can be on the path of salvation/redemption. With such an impressive ensemble, we get to see exactly who is and isn’t on that path. The first character I would identify as good would have to be Dwight because although Jon Hamm makes him deceptive for his own protection, he was willing to disobey a direct order to do what he thought was the right thing. He may have not made the time to figure out why what he saw occurred, but it didn’t change he came from the right place. While he may have not succeeded with his intentions, it won’t change the fact he died a good man. Dakota Johnson definitely leans into the that side as well in the role of Emily because despite her toughness, it comes from being a protective sister. She had been such a protector since childhood from an abusive father and sadly, it wasn’t enough to stop her from irreversible actions that is committing murder in Malibu, this needing to get her out of town. Cailee Spaeny showed Rose to be the one who was living most confusedly because she didn’t understand how much her sister cared for her. She quickly became attached to Billy Lee because he was the one man who was physically harmless towards her. Enter Chris Hemsworth who gives a chilling performance in making an ideal cult leader revving up the manipulation with every word he believes in. The second he arrives at the hotel, one look is enough to confirm he’s not to be trusted. Emily was following him for her sister’s sake and saw right through him but still, it wasn’t enough to save Rose that time. So when does first and she remained emotionless proved how much a success he brainwashed him. It only got sadder that she grieved for him instead because she still couldn’t snap out of it. So once she bit the dust too, there’s no doubt that she was finally free from such mental entrapment. With her and Billy Zoe falling into the side, this leads to a few characters that are in the middle. Cynthia Erivo is one easy to adore as Darlene because apart from having a beautiful singing voice, she had her own resilience and determination in becoming a success. She definitely wished she didn’t have to buy her way into it, but she knew it was better than constant rejection. Ironically, that financial advantage became possible by one who was retiring from his bad ways. The legendary Jeff Bridges gives another all timer of a performance as Dock because he’s the only one who knew he’s sinned and wanted to collect to put the past behind him. You do feel bad for him losing his memory, but the respect comes from him wanting to honor his brother by getting what he died for. From what he’s able to remember, he has that guilt knowing he could’ve saved him by going to the hotel instead and rather than turn it over, he’d stick to what he know one more time in order to live at peace for the remainder of his life. It was a rougher patch than what he had in mind, but it was still worth it because he still got what he wanted. He was willing to split it with Darlene because they related to that necessity on wanting to reach a goal and once they got on the same page, things went the way they wanted. He visits her at the end because he appreciates her having his back when she didn’t need to and she nodded in return because she felt the same. Should they keep in touch as their lives went on, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen. Last but not least, Lewis Pullman is great as Miles because you sympathize for him being one who knows he’s in pain and doesn’t know how to heal until that answer came his way. He’s so damaged of the bloodshed he saw in Nam and took a terrible detour by working for a place where had to document the unspeakable, resulting in his drug addiction. He knew it was choice to work for the El Royale, but he was mostly waiting for someone to save him because he didn’t know how to save him. Even though Dock wasn’t a priest, he gave him what he wanted because he understood how bad he wanted it. Off of this, you can say he and Darlene are able to live in his honor to the fullest so that he is the one death that wasn’t in vein. Since both people were smiling at the end, you can say that is true. This movie works in so many ways, but then there was some stuff that confused me upon rewatching. For example, I feel like Miles should’ve locked the door if he didn’t want to anyone to know if he was doing drugs and Emily should’ve immediately closed the door after she dragged Rose into her room. It’s even a trip Dwight doesn’t even mess with the payphone to see if it’s bugged too if he’s gonna call J Edgar Hoover of all people. It then feels like a giant rookie mistake for him to not even announce to the girls he’s FBI if he wanted his intentions to be clear. After finding so many in his room, it should’ve not stopped him. And since this in the 60s, how did Emily not hear Miles call for Flynn as he saw her with Rose tied down to the chair? He even yells before Dwight gets shot, so he loses discretion to the point where I would have heard something beneath the rain. It’s even dumber Emily to trust Rose to stay put since she ends up calling Billy Lee when left alone. If she didn’t want that to happen, she should’ve destroyed the telephone in her room at least. Other than that, this movie does feel flawless once you’re seated. In conclusion, Bad Times at the El Royale is such an underrated thriller for its sharp intricacy that leaves hooked from start to finish. If thrillers are your preference, see this now.