Bad Times at the El Royale Review

21 Oct

This discount Tarantino knockoff is not even half the film The Cabin in the Woodswas. Very few films this year have managed to spin their wheels more than this one does, overstaying its welcome by a good 45 minutes and thus losing any semblance of the necessary propulsive energy. It’s not even really that funny or fun. Goddard tries and fails to spin the complicated narrative together through pointless flashbacks (there’s an especially cringeworthy one late in the film) and emotional character backstory, stripping the entire thing of the charm behind its “strangers in a room” premise. Ultimately, the underwhelming climax hardly justifies the needless narrative complications that get us there. Performances are good, cinematography is great, and the style is slick, but this just spreads the fun out so thin that it all disappears by the end.

GRADE: B-

6 Responses to “Bad Times at the El Royale Review”

  1. Peggy Marie's avatar
    peggyatthemovies October 21, 2018 at 1:47 pm #

    Completely agree.. And the character aren’t very like-able either.. except for the two who make it out.. everyone else I could completely care less about.

  2. richieduh's avatar
    Ricardo October 21, 2018 at 10:34 pm #

    the vietnam flashback was especially pointless

    • polarbears16's avatar
      polarbears16 October 28, 2018 at 4:24 pm #

      Absolutely, and really stalled what little momentum there was

  3. MovieManJackson's avatar
    MovieManJackson October 27, 2018 at 7:49 pm #

    Much too long also.

  4. Sam Simon's avatar
    Sam Simon November 28, 2018 at 6:02 am #

    Wow! I have a very different opinion on this one… I loved this movie!

    Bad Times at El Royale: Movie Review

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