Bad Times at the El Royale
Cast Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm
◖141 minutes ◖Crime ◖MA 15+ ◖A V L D S ◖In-seat A priest who can’t remember (Jeff Bridges), a hippie with a hostage (Chris Hemsworth) and a soul singer with a metronome (Cynthia Erivo) are some of the strangers who meet at the once glorious, though now deserted, Lake Tahoe motel, The El Royale, to be greeted by the troubled young receptionist, Miles (Lewis Pullman).
Everyone has a secret to bury, all have a shot at redemption – but only one is innocent. This mystery thriller written and directed by Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods) plays out like a surreal jigsaw puzzle – truth and lies spin on a roulette wheel as, over one night, we find out that nobody is what they appear and everybody is watching somebody else.
But why? We’re kept guessing until the very end. Don’t blink – you’ll need every twist in each character’s backstory, revealed in flashbacks.
The diverse and entertaining cast, including Jon Hamm as a fasttalking salesman, is excellent and the dialogue (there’s a lot of it) is witty but it’s Pullman’s portrayal of a man who’s afraid for his soul that will forever haunt you.