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Hotel Artemis - Review

I’ve said before that high concept genre exercises need a spine of a familiar story so audiences can get lost in the world a film is creating. Hotel Artemis is an example of a high concept genre exercise that could have used a little more of a simple story inbedded in its DNA. In fact, I think I needlessly criticized this summer’s earlier Upgrade for adhering too closely to its story formula. Because what Hotel Artemis shows is that you can have a fantastic cast, a great premise, but ultimately can whiff it on where it matters most.
Ten years in the future, a mega corporation has privatized water. This is causing mass civil unrest, especially in Los Angeles, which as the film opens is experiencing the worst riots in the city’s history. Many people are taking advantage of this, especially bank robbing brothers – Waikiki (Sterling K. Brown -- Innovative|JWS Entertainment) and Honolulu (Brian Tyree Henry -- CAA|JWS Entertainment) – these are not their actual names but nicknames they are given later. While robbing a bank, Honolulu is injured – and the two make their way to the titular Hotel Artemis – a hotel/hospital exclusively for L.A.’s criminal underworld. Artemis is run by The Nurse (Jodie FosterICM) and her aide Everest (Dave BautistaGersh|Meisner Entertainment). The hotel also has a couple of other guests a sleazy arms dealer Acapulco (Charlie Day -- WME|3 Arts) and Nice (Sofia BoutellaCAA|42, UK) -- an international assassin. Things go from bad to worse fairly rapidly when The Nurse allows Morgan (Jenny Slate – WME) a cop who has a past with The Nurse, and the fact that The Wolf King (Jeff Goldblum – ICM|Industry Entertainment Partners)  -- the head of all crime in L.A. (and owner of Hotel Artemis) is coming in with an injury and his insane and sadistic son, Crosby (Zachary Quinto – WME|Untitled) in tow.  
This hotel is just simply overbooked! If that summary above sounds complicated, that’s because it is. There’s a lot going on in Hotel Artemis. More than the film comfortably knows what to do with. Writer/director Drew Pearce’s (WME) script feels for the first act like a really great pilot for Starz or Showtime, which would in turn spawn a massive hit as a TV series. Everyone at Hotel Artemis has their own agenda, everyone’s trying to leave, kill somebody, or follow the rules of the hotel. And all of this could have been interesting to explore, but once the film hits its second act, the story simply runs in place. Pierce’s stylized direction is suitably moody and gives a noirish, pulpy feeling to the proceedings, but at a certain point the film feels more like an exercise in style over substance.

I liked the world the film created of a secret underbelly of criminals, it had shades of John Wick to it, but if John Wick is the one percenters of international crime, than this is for the 99%. I appreciated the fact that the whole water privatization set up of its world building was a nice background detail, but it also felt like it was being set up for a narrative purpose too. Once the film hits its climax it races through emotional arcs and ties up story threads so quickly, you might feel whiplash. It felt like there was an hour missing from the film.
The cast is clearly having fun with the pulpy hardboiled dialogue and characters; it’s just that they aren’t given any real time to explore their characters with any real depth. Jodie Foster is great as usual and it’s fun to see her playing a character without a conscious. Her and Bautista have great chemistry as well. Sofia Boutella continues to prove that she’s an action starlet to watch and here’s hoping that someone gives her a starring vehicle. And I remain firmly convinced that Sterling K. Brown would make reading the phonebook interesting.
Ultimately, Hotel Artemis is a mixed bag. A great premise and cast, but ultimately the film doesn’t really go anywhere. Maybe Pearce can retool this for that great TV series.

Two out of Four stars.