Direction: Drew Goddard
Country: USA
I must confess I expected more from Drew Goddard, the director of Cabin in the Woods, in his sophomore feature, Bad Times at the El Royale, a fuzzy Tarantino-esque pulp-without-juice thriller that only modestly entertains. The stellar casting doesn’t avoid a pretty clumsy payoff in a story that, after an intriguing start, gets messy, violent and cheesy, continuing its downfall until the end.
A robber in the guise of a priest (Jeff Bridges), a serene singer (Cynthia Erivo), a traumatized young clerk (Lewis Pullman), a trio of cult-derived psychopaths (Dakota Johnson, Cailee Spaeny and Chris Hemsworth) and a special agent (Jon Hamm) forge some surprising spins and stunts, but the film loses opacity too soon and becomes less and less interesting. Moreover, it all looks phony and sounds artificial from side to side.
I wouldn’t bother visiting this 2-star hotel.
