Bad Times at the El Royale (watched October 11, 2018)

I went into this viewing with enough hype that I was expecting to have a good time. And, all in all- Bad Times at the El Royale is just that: a fun time to be had- especially if you invest more in its characters than its plot. The film wasted no time in grabbing my attention with a rather grandiose, multi-character introduction that, naturally, John Ham’s character Seymour Sullivan seems completely in the driver’s seat of. From there, the movie oscillates quite a bit from what some will experience as overly drawn-out background dialogues and the more captivating visual depictions thereof. Whenever I felt the plot get overly scattered or slowly developing, I anxiously and excitedly welcomed the jolt of action that inevitably followed.

Easily one of the more satisfying re-occurrences is the beautiful intermittent singing of Darlene Sweet (played by Cynthia Erivo), which the director, thankfully, orchestrates a number of times. The director also takes one cinematographic risk in particular that I believes pays big dividends from the audience's standpoint, which, for me, goes a long way to combat the more stagnant parts of the film. Each character is paid close and individual attention to throughout different parts of the movie; and, while the manner in which their paths come to overlap seems a bit contrived at times, I admit that the ending did a well enough job for me to overlook said instances. The movie is a FULL 2 hours and 21 minutes; so, for those of you with weak bladders and/or an affinity for sipping on something while you’re watching a movie, expect to need a bathroom break or two. And, for that reason, I can see how some people might and in certain instances probably should avoid seeing this movie in theatre.

I am of the mindset that Bad Times at the El Royale is a film you definitely should watch sooner rather than later, albeit, probably under whatever circumstances you would be best able to really focus and invest your time in the rather involved plot development. Bad Times at the El Royale gets 4 reps out of 5 from this guy!

How was your stay at the El Royale?