Bad Times At The El Royale Review: 6 Ups & 2 Downs

Ups...

6. The Entertaining Roster Of Characters

This is a film that absolutely lives and dies on the basis of its seven focal characters, played splendidly as they are by a game cast including Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson and Chris Hemsworth.

Goddard does a fantastic job fleshing out all of the seven principals, especially Bridges' totally-not-a-priest, Lewis Pullman's twitchy concierge - in a role originally intended for Tom Holland - and Cynthia Erivo's struggling singer, while constantly mixing up the character interactions and giving every actor plenty to play off.

Goddard's approach to his characters is what's rightly earning the film comparisons to The Hateful Eight, given that each of the seven harbours a secret which ends up informing the third act. That the characters and the actors playing them feel utterly worthy of the likening to Tarantino is an impressive feat indeed.