Starring amongst others Jeff Bridges, the film concerns a disparate bunch of dubious characters who, for their own reasons, gather at the said El Royale and whose respective fates become inextricably interwoven as the story progresses. Both seedy and stylish, the hotel mirrors it's one-night occupants (you'll get the significance of that line if you see it), with its own dirty history of bad acts and failed dreams. There is crime, secret service shenanigans, and straight forward craziness all tied up with tape and presented in a box, whose contents only become clear as the wrappings are removed.
Bridges is first class as the grizzled old preacher who seems oddly well placed for a man of the cloth, amongst the other down at heel inhabitants, and by and large the other cast members play their respective roles to a tee as well. Chris Hemsworth is comfortable in his role as a charismatic cult leader, and proves that should his acting career ever stall he would have a second at the ready in the form of a hip swivelling nightclub dancer! There are elements of the story not overtly spelled out, but merely hinted at - and now I think about it, a second viewing might well be needed to tie some of these up. I'm going to go into spoiler mode now to ask some questions that anyone who sees the film might like to comment on.
Spoiler
Do you think the dead person in the film reel filmed in secret was supposed to be JFK (possibly screwing with Marilyn Monroe whose picture we see in the lobby? The film is set in 1969 a ways after Kennedy's assassination.
Clearly Billy-Lee is meant to be based on Charles Manson; presumably it was he that killed the family that was referenced in a couple of news bulletins. I'd thought it was the clerk of the hotel who kept refering to having done 'bad things' - but probably not?
Who were the hotel's mysterious owners; I'd thought it must be the US secret service but on reflection it couldn't have been. Sure, they had bugged the hotel bedrooms (Nixon, who appears in a TV news clip implicated here?) but they didn't know about the secret filming corridor, so it couldn't have been them.
Who set the second set of 'wires' in the hotel bedroom/s that the FBI/CIA were so concerned about? Was the colored singer and the odd exchange she had with the arrogant record producer to do with that? She removed the taps from the dead agents body didn't she? Was this tied up with the 'hour of her time' that the arrogant record producer bargained with her for. But if she took him up on his offer why was she singing the shit shift in Reno just as he predicted she would be if she turned him down.
These and other questions demand answering!
Clearly Billy-Lee is meant to be based on Charles Manson; presumably it was he that killed the family that was referenced in a couple of news bulletins. I'd thought it was the clerk of the hotel who kept refering to having done 'bad things' - but probably not?
Who were the hotel's mysterious owners; I'd thought it must be the US secret service but on reflection it couldn't have been. Sure, they had bugged the hotel bedrooms (Nixon, who appears in a TV news clip implicated here?) but they didn't know about the secret filming corridor, so it couldn't have been them.
Who set the second set of 'wires' in the hotel bedroom/s that the FBI/CIA were so concerned about? Was the colored singer and the odd exchange she had with the arrogant record producer to do with that? She removed the taps from the dead agents body didn't she? Was this tied up with the 'hour of her time' that the arrogant record producer bargained with her for. But if she took him up on his offer why was she singing the shit shift in Reno just as he predicted she would be if she turned him down.
These and other questions demand answering!