Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) Movie Review

Bat Times at the El Royale (2018) Review

Hello guys and welcome back to Movie Reviews #100%, the place where you can be nerdy about movies! I just came up with that. I think it should be the tagline of the site, right? Just gloss over that because I am not here to talk about taglines for movie sites I am here to talk about the latest movie from Drew Goddard. Don't know who that is? Well, go and watch ''Cabin in the Woods'' and come back to me.

So, ''Cabin in the Woods'' was a great movie, a surprisingly good horror movie and the reason of that is because the movie makes a mock out of the cliches that you find in almost every single horror movie and it feels more like a satire. With this one, however, the satire is there for sure, amongst the violence and bloodshed that happens throughout the movie.

A bit of a synopsis for you: The El Royale is a run-down hotel that sits on the border between California and Nevada. It soon becomes a seedy battleground when seven strangers -- a cleric, a soul singer, a traveling salesman, two sisters, the manager and the mysterious Billy Lee -- converge on a fateful night for one last shot at redemption before everything goes wrong.

So, if the synopsis seems a bit familiar, you are not wrong because it does. You have seen this set-up in other movies like ''Identity'' and, more recently, ''The Hateful Eight''. Also, a bit of ''Vacancy'' as well. Remember that movie? With Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson? It's OK if you don't, it's not that memorable but it had an interesting idea. And so has this movie, an interesting idea with a moderate to good execution.

Maybe some of you enjoyed this movie for what it is and the message that it delivers but it was a bit average for me. I mean, it's not a bad movie but it's not great either. I like the style, the way it looks and way it was shot, the atmosphere is great, very Tarantino like, a bit mysterious, with some good performances from all the cast and a good amount of tension, suspense and violence.

The part that did not worked for me was all the backstories from all the characters. I mean, I understand that to empathize or to connect with a character or multiple characters, you need some exposition but a brief exposition, if told correctly, goes a long way, even if you have more that one character, which in this case you have. What I am saying is that they could have given a shorter exposition for each character and put them not so far apart from one another.

Having longer expositions and introduced them in a pivotal moment of the movie it kinda ruins the balance of the movie and makes it feel a bit uneven.

Overall, the movie is not bad but it has some flaws and it was a bit disappointing for me but the idea was smart and it's a lot of fun. The execution was a bit flawed, I would have wanted it to be a bit more intertwined. But hey, don't take my word for it. See it for yourself and make your own opinion. What do I know right? Just kidding. You should see it, it's good. 7.2/10

OK guys, that is my review for this one. More reviews coming soon, including the one for ''Glass''. Until then, stay movie nerdy and keep on reviewing!