Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Manny Jacinto, Nick Offerman, Katherine Isabelle, Cailee Spaeny, Cynthia Erivo, Lewis Pullman, Xavier Dolan, Alvina August, Jonathan Whitesell, Sarah Smyth, Jim O’ Heir, Charles Halford, Mark O’ Brien, Bethany Brown, Hannah Zirke, Tally Rodin, Sophia Lauchlin Hirt, Austin James, Billy Wickman, James Quach, Vincent Washington, Caroline Koziol, Austin Abell.
A film full to the brim of Noir that it overflows like a burst river after a season of rain, the banks unable to hold back the tide of moral ambiguity, of seasoned performances steeped in shadows and the surge of reflected dishonour that comes racing out of the traps as if chased by the Devil carrying a flaming torch and holding a first pressing of The Doors’ seminal album L.A. Woman. Such is the intensity of Bad Times at The El Royale, that you cannot but help wonder that you thought they said they didn’t make films like this anymore, well they were wrong, for this easily sits amongst the genre’s finest moments and with a grandstand view over the audience’s appreciation.
Moral ambiguity is such that it makes in the end a more enlightening transition for the characters to embark upon, the shadow of doubt of how they carry out their aims, their final purpose; a good woman might be driven to desperate lengths like murder, if it means protecting someone they love from a cult, a man who has served his sentence and is in throws of the last days of his life, perhaps does deserve the comfort that stolen money can bring. Moral upstanding only truly works in the world of the superhero, life, however much needs the occasional hero, is otherwise a progression of being damned and skating along whilst being wracked with guilt.
It is guilt, of pleasure, of observing life’s commands, that sees Bad Times at The El Royale stand out in such dramatic fashion, a powerful endorsement to story-telling, of bringing out excellent performances from Dakota Johnson, Jeff Bridges, Lewis Pullman and notably from Chris Hemsworth, who seems completely liberated on screen and free in such a way that has arguably not been seen since he donned the mantle of Thor in the Marvel series of films connecting The Avengers story.
The mad glow of insanity, the madness of expression, to bring that out in an actor takes an obsession with humanity’s darker side, and for the creative team that made this film such a vibrant moment of cinema, that glow is stamped all over, branded, perfected and as subtle as brick in handbag holding down a large calibre weapon.
Bad Times at The El Royale is Noir at its finest, the shadow of rooting for the devil in a fight is one that we perhaps lose track of doing, but at times it is necessary, for when God fights dirty and hits below the belt, occasionally, as Noir shows, you have to cheer for the one whose intentions are less likely to cause harm. A superbly imagined piece of cinema, a dialogue that hits home of the nature of the human condition.
Ian D. Hall