Checked out the new twisty crime drama Bad Times at the El Royale. I might be the only person that did based on bad box office this weekend. Apparently Fox continues to half-heartedly market things, what with them being bought out by Disney. Not that the movie is great and deserves block-bluster status, but probably deserved a little more box office than it got.
Bad Times is about a hotel on the border between Nevada and California. It’s on the skids because it lost its gambling license (for the Nevada side) and, one night, attracts a series of people, some average, some criminals, some cops… all arriving for their own reasons, all will crash into each other, not all will survive. The fun in the movie is learning who each of the visitors are and seeing the story unfold from their points of view. Pivotal scenes often replay from different angles where you learn a little more about the story.
But the idea and the structure of the movie is a little more interesting than the actual movie. A lot of stuff happens in the flick, a lot of plot, and a lot of dialog… but none of it zings like it should. The movie isn’t as peppy or extreme or energetic as it feels like its trying to be. It’s unfortunate because the end result is a movie that just kind of happens and makes you wonder what it was all for. What it was all about?
So, yeah, just kind of an average crime flick with a twistier plot than the usual. It kind of reminds me of a modern Pulp Fiction in that regards, but A) without Pulp Fictions clever dialog, or B) all of Pulp Fiction’s imitators’ desperate attempts to out-Tarantino Tarantino. So that’s to the movie’s credit… it feels inspired by a Tarantino movie, doesn’t reach its heights, but doesn’t feel like a me-too. So that’s good, right?
Score: 76