A singer, a salesman, a runaway and a priest walk into a bar…
With an excellent cast and fantastic soundtrack, El Royale starts strong before running out of steam and falling apart during the final act. As the movie progresses we learn a little bit about each visitor to the El Royale before the walls close in and the skeletons come out of the closets, leading to a slow burning end with little payoff.
Most of the characters lead double lives; Laramie Sullivan (Jon Hamm), the salesman that draws on Don Draper being revealed as an undercover agent infiltrating the hotel to find a macguffin in the shape of incriminating evidence against a former high profile figure. This leads to the discovery that the hotel has previously been used for spy operations. There’s also Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a bank robber posing as a priest tracking down a hidden cache of money buried in the hotel. He displays a surprising and welcome amount of humanity for a crook. Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo) the struggling singer who gets caught up in Daniel’s schemes. Emily and Rose Summerspring (Dakota Johnson and Cailee Spaeny), sisters on the run from the abusive cult leader Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth). Last but not least is the Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman), the hotel concierge cum Vietnam sniper. The stories are well woven through character study flashbacks and clever scene repetition from different perspectives.
As the stories unravel, the third act begins with Billy Lee and his goons tracking down the Summersprings to the hotel. The other storylines come to a braking halt as Hemsworth dances around for far too long. The relation between Billy Lee was and the Summersprings had already been revealed earlier so the suspense was greatly diminished.
El Royale begins strong and builds up well, only to run out of ideas and leave with a disappointing ending.