A fantastic cast of characters in the hands of a writer/director who doesn't know the difference between homage and imitation, led to one of the biggest wasted potentials of the year (even before Creed II).
The poster itself was enticing enough for me: the promise of that star-studded cast in a movie set in the 70's... It had all the makings of a classic. The first 30 minutes out of the 140-minute run time was actually well-made. The characters were meeting one another for the first time, and the audience had no idea about the characters' intentions. One by one they were ravelling, and it was interesting to see your expectations subverted. After the first act, style and substance both took a huge dip.
Some of the characters were evil, just for the sake of being evil. And, some were virtuous, just for the sake of being virtuous. There was no character development whatsoever - it shouldn't be confused with what I said in the previous paragraph about the intentions. You may know what a person wants, but the movie fails to tell you why or how they came to want that particular outcome.
Overall, I think my time was wasted. I would've given it 6/10 (because of the cast and the first act), but one factor makes me deduct two points and that was the over emphasis on the singer. Nobody has come to that movie to hear 15 minutes of soul/church solos by one of the characters.
Bad Times at El Royale translates to bad times for the audience as well, and I give it a 4/10.
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