Never Be Bored
2 January 2020
Just you, and me, and this gun
Bad Times at the El Royale, 2018 Drew Goddard film; Ex Machina, 2014 Alex Garland film; And Then There Were None mystery novel by Agatha Christie, Knives Out, 2019 Rian Johnson film.
A hotel, a house, an island, a mansion. People walking around with secrets. Maybe she knows something, maybe he doesn't. Someone has a gun. And there's no way out.
I love thrillers like these. Not the globe-trotting action movies where things go boom (although I like those too), but a limited group of people somehow stuck together with tension thicker than glue. A smaller scale, almost theatrical sense of drama, if that makes any sense—with the right set design, any of these recommendations feel like they could be reworked as plays.
Bad Times at the El Royale is one fantastic film. I went with a friend to see it in theaters, not having even watched a trailer, but there because my friend had liked it so much he wanted to see it for a second time. An unusual bunch of people show up at the El Royale Hotel for one dark and stormy 1960s night, each with their own stated and unstated reasons for being there. I love how each piece feels so essential—if any single character out of the group hadn't shown up at the El Royale, if it had been any other hotel, maybe nothing would have happened.
Fast forward to the future world of Ex Machina. Programmer Caleb Smith wins the opportunity for a week-long stay at his CEO's isolated home, where he finds that the man has been working on creating an artificial intelligence, named Ava. The vast majority of the movie takes place in this beautifully modern house, as these three beings interact, each trying to figure the others out.
Back in time again to the 1930s, And Then There Were None is Agatha Christie at her best. A group of strangers arrive on an island, only to be cut off from the mainland hours later by a storm. They share a secret in common, which is revealed as the plot unfolds piece by piece. (Although this one was actually reworked as a play, I do Not recommend watching it, as it changes the original ending in a way that I personally find unsatisfying.)
In the other recommendations in this post, you start off knowing nothing, and slowly you figure stuff out. In contrast, I love Knives Out because the scenes at the beginning make you think you know what's going on, and then it all falls apart before coming back together at the end. This one has a bit of a broader scale than the others, both in terms of cast (quite a few big names) and setting (more scenes outside of the focal location) but it's got excellent Agatha Christie vibes even though it's set in modern day.