Last night was another trip to Cineworld and a chance to catch The Royal Hotel, a film that I really didn’t know that much about, so it was interesting to go in to see a film that would possibly surprise me.
US backpackers Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) take a job in a remote Australian pub for some extra cash and are confronted with a bunch of unruly locals and a situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
The film starts with Hanna and Liv at a party on a ship but it soon turns out that they are broke and need to earn some money to continue with their backpacking, so they end up travelling to the middle of nowhere to The Royal Hotel which looks like one of the worst places you could go.
After a somewhat strange introduction to the hotel, the girls take on the role of the new bartenders of the rundown establishment which is owned by Billy (Hugo Weaving) but it soon turns out that he’s somewhat of an alcoholic, it’s left to Hanna and Liv to run the place and to try and fend off the workmen that come into the pub to blow off some steam and get completely plastered.
But as the weeks go by, things aren’t as good as they first hoped and they find that certain patrons are not what they seem and have some nasty streaks in particular Dolly (Daniel Henshall), a character that just made my skin crawl with his attitude towards Hanna, but Liv seems to have taken to to him this is something that Hanna worries about. Maybe she’s been through a similar experience in the past, but as she tries to protect Liv she pushes her away more.
As I mentioned earlier I really didn’t know much about The Royal Hotel and after seeing the 18 certificate come up on the title card I thought that there might be some violence or scary bits, but it seemed that this rating was given for the very strong language throughout the film and in particular this could be down to the “C-bomb” that is used several times during the film.
The content of the film will certainly make a few people uncomfortable, as it did with me, but for a thriller, it’s not a bad film. With a short running time of 1h 31m, it puts in everything that it needs to, although there are a few moments early on when I was thinking to myself, “where is this going“. However in the long run the last scene of the film is worth the wait and it gives you a sense that these girls have managed to succeed where others before them haven’t.
An Uncomfortable but strangely watchable thriller
Movie title: The Royal Hotel (2023)
Movie description: US backpackers Hanna and Liv take a job in a remote Australian pub for some extra cash and are confronted with a bunch of unruly locals and a situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
Date published: November 7, 2023
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 31m
Director(s): Kitty Green
Actor(s): Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving
Genre: Thriller
Summary
The Royal Hotel wasn’t what I was expecting with its 18 certificate, but still, the film was strangely watchable even though it was slightly uncomfortable to watch in certain scenes.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
