Jason_V
Senior HTF Member
Title: The Royal Hotel (2023)
Tagline: A fun adventure is all they wanted.
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Director: Kitty Green
Cast: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving, Daniel Henshall, Ursula Yovich, Toby Wallace, James Frecheville, Herbert Nordrum, Alex Malone, Barbara Lowing, Adam MacNeill, Kate Cheel, Bree Bain, Baykali Ganambarr, Nic Darrigo, Bruce R. Carter, Len Firth, Valerie Berry, Patrick Frost, Jonathan auf der Heide
Release: 2023-10-06
Runtime: 91
Plot: After running out of money while backpacking in a tiny, male-dominated town in the Australian outback, two friends resort to a working holiday at the Royal Hotel. When the locals behavior starts crossing the line, the girls find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.I really wanted to love The Royal Hotel, a story of two Canadian women who take a job in a remote part of Australia after they run out of money. Said job is in a mining "town" and they face all the stereotypical things you'd expect to find there. I kept asking myself, as the women encounter more and more which causes one to want to leave, why am I not filled with dread for them?
The location works spectacularly: remote, desolate and nowhere near civilization. The actors who populate this place do their jobs wonderfully, even if most of the characters don't rise to complex human beings. I know I should be feeling what Liv and Hannah are feeling and, in their place, I probably would be terrified. So what is it that doesn't get me there?
I honestly don't know.
The Royal Hotel wants to tackle a lot of issues (the privilege of foreigners, the treatment of indigenous people, the treatment of women, looks being deceiving, etc.). It handles some of them well, and others with just a passing glance.
Up to the end, Liv and Hannah more or less handle themselves and find their own ways out of different situations without the men.
Not sure I can recommend this, but I'm not upset I spent 90 minutes watching it.
The location works spectacularly: remote, desolate and nowhere near civilization. The actors who populate this place do their jobs wonderfully, even if most of the characters don't rise to complex human beings. I know I should be feeling what Liv and Hannah are feeling and, in their place, I probably would be terrified. So what is it that doesn't get me there?
I honestly don't know.
The Royal Hotel wants to tackle a lot of issues (the privilege of foreigners, the treatment of indigenous people, the treatment of women, looks being deceiving, etc.). It handles some of them well, and others with just a passing glance.
Up to the end, Liv and Hannah more or less handle themselves and find their own ways out of different situations without the men.
Then, from the time the need Dolly to remove the snake from the hotel to the end, they rely on men to save them. I'm not sure that's keeping in line with the rest of the story. When Matty and Dolly are trying to get into the bar, Teeth stops them. Earlier on, Hannah texts-I assume-the guy she hooked up with earlier in the movie and he rides in as if he's going to be their savior. This movie should be about these two women being bad asses...just like the final frames want to tell the audience.
Not sure I can recommend this, but I'm not upset I spent 90 minutes watching it.
