Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

Directed by: Drew Goddard | 142 minutes | thriller | Actors: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Nick Offerman, Xavier Dolan, Shea Whigham, Mark O’Brien, Charles Halford, Jim O’Heir, Gerry Nairn, Alvina August

It was a pleasant and unexpected success in 2012: meta-horror film ‘The Cabin in the Woods’, by the previously unknown television writer Drew Goddard. With this film, Goddard gave a new, very witty twist to the somewhat entrenched horror genre. Since then, however, it has remained scrupulously quiet: Goddard continued to write and won an Oscar nomination for ‘The Martian’, but a new film was no less than six years away. So high expectations for his second major project: ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’.

Based on the first half, you can hardly help but say that Goddard once again hits the bull’s eye. In the opening scene alone, he takes the time to see a man in a hotel room hiding a bag of money under the floor, filmed in characteristic wide shots. Goddard builds mystery with sardonic pleasure and slowly but surely unfolds his characters on the chessboard. The venue is motel ‘El Royale’, which is located right on the border between Nevada and California.

The guests who ‘coincidentally’ all check in on the same afternoon are a sympathetic priest (Jeff Bridges), an undiscovered singer (Cynthia Erivo), a slick vacuum cleaner salesman (Jon Hamm) and a coarse-mouthed hippie (Dakota Johnson). Each and every one of them eccentric figures that lend themselves easily to entertaining interaction: supplemented by the somewhat unworldly manager, played by Lewis Pullman (Bill’s son). The guests all seem to be passing through, but (of course) have come to the motel with completely different intentions. Total escalation seems inevitable in the short term. Especially when a Charles Manson-esque guru (Chris Hemsworth) also appears on the scene.

The cast can enjoy themselves wonderfully, and Goddard gives them all the space they need. Cynthia Erivo, best known for this as a musical star, is nothing less than a revelation: she is given a lot of space to display her musical talent, but also knows how to add enough nuance to her character, so that her character Darlene acts as the ‘heart’ from the movie. Bridges is great as always and visibly having a good time here as a priest with shadowy intentions.

‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ is very entertaining in the first hour and a half. The camera work is amazing and the messy narrative structure works out well. However, all this cannot prevent the film from losing a lot of power after this. Although Chris Hemsworth’s character initially seems to have everything to become a cult figure, things go crazy when he makes his appearance. Here Goddard loses himself too much in the plot twists and wacky characters.

Where the whole thing seemed to derail in an entertaining, Tarantino-esque way before, the film loses too much momentum and energy in the last act. The fact that the film lasts more than two and a half hours doesn’t help much either. Goddard wants to take a lot of side paths in the last hour, so that some scenes (such as a fairly incomprehensible war sequence) suddenly feel forced and unnecessary. And what exactly Goddard has to say with this film remains largely in the dark.

It would almost pay off to say that it is better to turn off the film after an hour and a half, but Goddard doesn’t make it that bright. Partly because of its sneaky build-up of tension, you still want to know how the film ends, and most of the film does work like entertaining pulp. Although the nods to Tarantino are very present, Goddard remains a man to keep an eye on. It doesn’t get as refreshing as ‘The Cabin in the Woods’, but it certainly is that entertaining.