Movie; Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) Caution; Spoiler Alert

Bad Times at the El Royale

Came out; 2018
Time; 2 Hour 21 minutes
Watched on; On Demand



Rating; R for Strong violence, language, some drug content & brief nudity
IMDB Rating; 7.2/10



Rotten Tomatoes Score; 74%
Average Rating; 6.6/10
Reviews Counted; 220
Fresh; 163
Rotten; 57
Audience Score; 75% Liked it

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Circa 1969, several strangers, most with a secret to bury, meet by chance at Lake Tahoe's El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past. Over the course of one night, everyone will show their true colors - before everything goes to hell.

Staring;

Jeff Bridges as Father Daniel Flynn/Dock O'Kelly

Cynthia Erivo as Darlene Sweet

Dakota Johnson as Emily Summerspring

Jon Hamm as Laramie Seymour Sullivan/Dwight Broadbeck

Chris Hemsworth as Billy Lee

Cailee Spaney as Rose Summerspring

Lewis Pullman as Miles Miller

Storyline;

In 1969, an aging priest suffering from early onset dementia, a struggling African American female singer, a talkative salesman on vacation and an unfriendly young woman who may or may not be a hippie, arrive by chance on the same day at Lake Tahoe's "El Royale", a once glitzy but now rundown roadside motel lying on the very border between California and Nevada, and operated by a single troubled staff member who holds many dark secrets. Throughout the day, it becomes increasingly clear that almost no one there is exactly who they seem, but things really go from bad to worse in the evening when heavy rain hits and someone much worse than those inside arrives to find "a friend" and bring hell to all those unlucky enough to be there at the time.

Thoughts;

Don't watch this movie unless you want to be board for 2 hours. Don't watch this movie unless you like to be confused. Don't watch this movie unless you want the movie to end leaving open ended plot lines.



The movie starts with a flash back of a man checking into the hotel and putting a red bag under the floor. We then cut to about 20 years later, 4 people are checking into the hotel. They are waiting in the lobby ringing the bell trying to get checked in.
Once they are all checked in, they go to their respective rooms. We learn that one of them is not who he says. One of them kidnapped someone and the other two seem to just be there.
Then things go south. The movie goes one by one showing the back stories of the guests. It ends with almost everyone dead and it was just all in all boring.






Plot Summary; CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

In 1969, Catholic priest Daniel Flynn, singer Darlene Sweet, salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan, and sarcastic Emily Summerspring arrive at the El Royale, where they meet the hotel's only employee, Miles Miller. Upon checking into the honeymoon suite, Sullivan (in reality an FBI agent named Dwight Broadbeck, sent to investigate the hotel and remove evidence of their operations) discovers a passageway leading into a corridor looking onto one-way mirrors in each of the hotel's rooms, as well as a 16mm camera setup. Broadbeck witnesses an apparent kidnapping in progress in Emily's room; he is instructed to not to interfere with the kidnapping, and to sabotage the guests' vehicles to prevent any of them from escaping. Meanwhile, Flynn invites Sweet to join him for dinner. She sees him drugging her drink and knocks him unconscious with a bottle, running out of the hotel to escape. Miles finds Flynn and reveals to him the secret passageway, afterwards explaining that "management" has instructed him to film the guests and send the footage to them. However, he chose to hold back one particularly incriminating film reel of a recently deceased public figure..