Bad Times at the El Royale

Movie
German title	Bad Times at the El Royale
Original title	Bad Times at the El Royale
Country of production	United States , Canada
original language	English
Publishing year	2018
length	142 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16 ; JMK 16
Rod
Director	Drew Goddard
script	Drew Goddard
production	Drew Goddard ; Jeremy Latcham
music	Michael Giacchino
camera	Seamus McGarvey
cut	Lisa Lassek
occupation
	Jeff Bridges : Daniel Flynn; Cynthia Erivo : Darlene Sweet, singer; Dakota Johnson : Emily Summerspring; Jon Hamm : Seymour "Laramie" Sullivan; Cailee Spaeny : Rose Summerspring; Lewis Pullman : Miles Miller; Chris Hemsworth : Billy Lee; Nick Offerman : Felix O'Kelly; Shea Whigham : Dr. Woodbury Laurence; William Bruce Davis : Judge Gordon Hoffman; Jim O'Heir: Milton Wyrick; Alvina August: Vesta Shears; Katharine Isabelle : Auntie Ruth Pugh; Mark O'Brien : Larsen Rogers; Xavier Dolan : Buddy Sunday; Manny Jacinto : Waring "Wade" Espiritu; Jonathan Whitesell: Chris "Flicker" Grimes; Sarah Smyth: Ginger Miller; Charles Halford: Sammy Wilds; Hannah Zirke: Emily (young); Billy Wickman: Emily's father; Austin Abell: Miles (Young); Tally Rodin: Silvana "Millie" Melvin; Sophia Lauchlin Shepherd: Annabell Czuchlewski; Caroline Koziol: Ivona;

Bad Times at the El Royale is an American mystery - thriller with elements of neo-noir film from the year 2018 . The plot revolves around seven strange, unfamiliar people who meet on one night in 1969 in the shabby Hotel El Royale on Lake Tahoe and whose dark secrets and plans collide with one another in the course of the action. The main characters are played by Jeff Bridges , Cynthia Erivo , Dakota Johnson , Jon Hamm , Cailee Spaeny , Lewis Pullman and Chris Hemsworth .

After The Cabin in the Woods , a horror comedy from 2012, this is the second feature film by screenwriter Drew Goddard that he also directed. The premiere took place on September 27, 2018 at the Fantastic Fest in Austin . The film ran in German cinemas on October 11, 2018 and in American cinemas on the following day.

action

In 1969, four unknown people met at the "El Royale", a hotel and casino on the border between California and Nevada , almost simultaneously . The hotel seems to be otherwise unoccupied and not set to be busy. There seems to be just one employee, the nervous but eager-looking Miles Miller, who checks in guests one by one. The guests introduce themselves as Daniel Flynn, Darlene Sweet and Seymour Sullivan. The fourth person, a young woman, wants to remain anonymous and therefore does not give a name.

Once in the rooms, Sullivan sets out to track down eavesdropping devices (bugs) that seem to have been hidden there a long time ago. While searching, he discovers a mirror that seems suspicious to him. He examines the hotel more closely and comes across a secret passage that runs between the rooms and from which one can observe the individual rooms through the rear of the mirror. He sees that Flynn, dressed as a pastor, seems to be tinkering with the floor of his room, and that there is a tied girl in the unknown woman's room. Sullivan then contacted his manager. It turns out that Sullivan probably works for the FBI and should remove the traces of the last wiretapping. The supervisor urged Sullivan not to take care of other matters, but only to continue to carry out the assignment and that he should prevent the other guests from leaving. Sullivan then manipulates their vehicles.

In the meantime, Flynn persuades Sweet to have dinner together at the casino, during which the two of them get to know each other a little. Sweet is an unknown singer who has fled machinations within the music industry and is now trying to get by with small gigs. The next day she has a gig in Reno, Nevada and invites Flynn to watch the gig. When he tries to mix a substance into her drink, Sweet knocks him down with a bottle and escapes from the casino, but finds that her vehicle does not start. When Miller discovers Flynn on the ground, he is initially confused, but asks Flynn to have a confession. He evades and instead asks Miller about the casino. It turns out that in the past Miller secretly filmed the guests for his superiors with the help of the secret passage and a camera set up there and then sent the recordings to his superiors. But he did not send a film out of sympathy for the person filmed. As they walk down the corridor, they too notice the room with the kidnapped person.

After his conversation, Sullivan ignores the instructions and tries to free the kidnapped person. However, he is shot dead by the unknown woman with a shotgun . Because Sullivan is standing in front of the mirror during the shot, Miller standing behind the mirror is also hit and, writhing in pain, is left in the corridor by Flynn. Flynn takes the film mentioned by Miller from his room and disappears. The woman discovers the passage and the bleeding Miller through the hole in the mirror and the screams of pain. It turns out that the woman is Emily Summerspring, who kidnapped her own sister in order to snatch her from the clutches of a violent cult leader named Billy Lee. Her kidnapped sister Rose, however, does not agree, secretly contacts Lee at the next opportunity and informs him of her whereabouts.

Sweet could also watch the shot through the open door from her car and is shortly afterwards surprised by Flynn, who persuades her to speak to him instead of shooting him. He reveals to her that he is not a priest, but in fact a convicted bank robber who has just been released from prison after 15 years and now wants to track down the booty that his accomplice is said to have hidden here. He didn't want to harass her either, just incapacitating her because he suspects the prey in her room after he has not found it in his. Together they actually find the money under the floor of their room and want to run away, but are stopped at this moment by Lee and his people, who just show up.

Emily has meanwhile taken Miller, who was hit in the face by a shotgun and seriously injured, to the main room of the casino. In conversation with Emily, Miller repeatedly implied that he saw and did bad things. When Lee arrives with his followers and the two hostages, Emily, unlike Rose, is not thrilled. Emily, Miller, Flynn and Sweet are now tied to a table and have to sit through Lee's sermons and games. While everyone else is calm and calm about Lee's mind games, Miller looks nervous and asks Flynn, whom he still takes to be a priest, to confess .

Lee shoots Emily and it looks like it's everyone's turn to take turns. In an unnoticed moment, Flynn jumps up and gives Lee a head-butt. By the fall of the two Miller comes into possession of a weapon, but without using it. A flashback reveals what Miller meant all along with the terrible things he did: As a sniper in Vietnam , he killed 123 people. Then he didn't want to have anything to do with it, which is why he now works in the casino. The inner conflict with Miller dissolves when Sweet tells him that no one will force him to shoot. Miller, spurred on by this donation, now takes on personal responsibility, grabs the gun and takes out all supporters and Lee with targeted shots within a very short time, only he spares Rose, who is mourning Lee. When Miller approaches Rose to comfort her, she stabs Miller. Rose is then killed by Flynn. Sweet and Flynn, the only ones left, take the money and destroy the film Flynn stole from Miller. It remains to be seen who was on the film, only that it is said to have been a well-known, deceased politician and that the recordings would bring in a lot of money.

During her appearance in Reno , Sweet sees Flynn among the guests and smiles. They can be heard singing during the credits.

production

In March 2017, 20th Century Fox announced that it had acquired the rights to Goddard's script. The author will take over the direction himself. Goddard co-produced the film with Jeremy Latcham, who had recently left Marvel Studios and founded his own company Latcham Pictures with 20th Century Fox. Bad Times at the El Royale marks their first production.

Filming

In August 2017, the names of Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Cailee Spaeny and Cynthia Erivo became known as first leading actors. The Broadway actress, Tony Award - Grammy - and Emmy -Gewinnerin (as lead actress and singer in the musical version of The Color Purple ) Erivo makes her debut on the big screen with the film.

Filming took place in Vancouver , Burnaby and British Columbia from late January to April 2018 .

The production design comes from Martin Whist, who previously took on this task at Predator - Upgrade , Night at the Museum: The Mysterious Tomb and RoboCop, among others . Hamish Purdy was responsible for the equipment, among other things, on Man of Steel , Mission: Impossible - Phantom Protocol , Power Rangers and The Revenant - Derreturner. Both were already responsible in these roles for Goddard's first film, The Cabin in the Woods .

Production costs were around $ 32 million.

Film music

The score was composed by Michael Giacchino . Leading actress Erivo sang several classics of soul and R&B music of the 1960s for the soundtrack . The trailer for the film was already backed by This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You) in the original by The Isley Brothers and with vocals by Erivo and Frankie Vallis Can't Take My Eyes Off You .

publication

Bad Times at the El Royale premiered on September 27, 2018 as the closing film of the annual Fantastic Fest film festival in Austin , which focuses on the film genres of horror , science fiction , fantastic film and action . The European premiere took place the next day at the 66th Festival Internacional de Cine de San Sebastián as a closing film outside of the official competition.

The cinema release of the dubbed version in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland took place on October 11, 2018, and in US cinemas the day after.

The film was released on UHD Blu-Ray with HDR10 + in early 2019 .

reception

Reviews

In the run-up to publication, 78% of the 73 reviews recorded by Rotten Tomatoes were positive, while Metacritic scored 65 out of a possible 100 points for 24 reviews recorded.

In a detailed review in the Stuttgarter Nachrichten , Kathrin Horster describes the setting and the atmosphere of the film: “'Bad Times' also lives from pop-cultural set pieces and quotes. You can hardly escape the painful nostalgic charm of the hotel with its Wurlitzer juke box , the natural stone floors and graphic wallpaper, constantly pounding Motown hits . But behind the façade of yellowed homeliness lurks madness in the form of typical American paranoia : The hotel is criss-crossed by secret passages with surveillance windows and bugged down to the last corner, pictures of Richard Nixon , arguably the most notorious wiretapper, flicker over the TV in the lobby. Manic of those years. ”In her conclusion, Horster praises the director and the implementation of the subject by comparing it with well-known film greats:“ Like Martin Scorsese , Quentin Tarantino or David Lynch , Goddard creates enormous tension through the contrast between tangible violence and otherworldly sweetness. It is part of the concept that the director, like his better-known colleagues, does not answer all questions in the end. The American madness may have an origin, it cannot be completely deciphered. "

In her review for the Swiss website Cineman, Gaby Tscharner also praised the film's style, setting and soundtrack and made reference to Lynch and Tarantino - the latter, however, not as positively as Horster: “The film is a mix of film noir , technicolor and David Lynch's TV Series Twin Peaks , which has more style than substance. Bad Times at the El Royale loses credibility when Chris Hemsworth appears as a kind of Charles Manson cut. ”She also emphasizes what she believes is too rambling the story:“ Bad Times at the El Royale is peppered with endless monologues , which are skilfully interpreted by the renowned actors, but which do not have the quality as written, for example, by Quentin Tarantino or Aaron Sorkin . The almost two and a half hour long film tells the same scenes from several perspectives, which only slowly pushes the story forward. "

Sheri Linden is enthusiastic about the “ingredients” of the film in The Hollywood Reporter , but also notes that the narrative is sometimes slowed down by the many changes of perspective. She praises the performance of Bridges and in particular Erivo's impressive screen debut as a “miracle of silence”.