Hotel Artemis - Film Review

In the past five years or so, I've come to generally believe that Hollywood is capable of producing at least one fantastic (yet underrated) film per year. 2016 had The Nice Guys, 2017 was American Made, and 2018 was Bad Times at the El Royale. I could go on, but I want to stop with 2018 as the premise of this film made me think I might need to reconsider my choice for top film for that year. Both films feature an all-star cast set in hotels that each hide plenty of secrets so the chance for a comparison seems pretty good!

*

Where You Can Find It: I saw this one on Amazon Video where it is free for those that have an Amazon Prime account.

General Information 
Hotel Artemis is a cyberpunk thriller film that originally released on 8 June 2018. It was written and directed by Drew Pearce with Global Road Entertainment distributing. I wondered how this movie could've flown under my radar, but then I saw the box office numbers and got my answer pretty quickly. With a budget of $15.5 million (not counting advertising), Hotel Artemis bombed with only $13.3 million accrued. It's possible the fact that this released on the same day as Ocean's 8 and Hereditary was what hurt it most, as the reviews weren't too bad. Hotel Artemis has a Metascore of 58 on Metacritic and a matching 58% on the Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Story

In the far-flung future of 2028, Los Angeles is wracked by riots and crime as water has become privatized, which has caused the City of Angels to become more of a dystopia than it already is. As violent protests rampage across the city, Nurse (played by the legendary Jodie Foster) and her assistant, Everest (Dave Bautista), manage a members-only hospital/hotel that caters exclusively to criminals and assassins. The guests go by the names of their suites and are required to follow strict rules while receiving treatment. These rules get tested on one particular night when each guest's secret causes everyone to collide in a particularly violent fashion.

**

Riots, assassinations, and robbery? Sounds like another Wednesday...

Each guest brings something to the table, which makes this film's plot very character-driven (something I am particularly fond of). Waikiki (Sterling K. Brown) and his brother, Honolulu (Brian Tyree Henry) are veteran bank robbers that might have just pushed their luck one too many times. Nice (Sofia Boutella) is a seductive assassin capable of turning a coffee cup into a lethal weapon. Acapulco (Charlie Day) is a vulgar arms dealer that doesn't know when to shut up. Lastly is Niagara (Jeff Goldblum), who is the feared gang boss of the Malibu Mafia that also goes by the name of the "Wolf King."

The first half of this film is pretty darn good as we're introduced to each character and Nurse shuffles around the labyrinthian hotel she's managed for 22 years. It's when we near the climax that things start to unravel as characters begin to do things that conflict with their nature, while the rules of the world are equally violated in ways that make me seriously doubt the Hotel Artemis could even exist for as long as it has. The most egregious aspect of the world-building is that the hotel has very explicit rules, but seemingly has very little it can do if a guest actually violates one of these rules. The film makes a point that rules are meant to be broken (and all of the guests are hardcore criminals), so I would've assumed that Nurse would have more than a bare-fisted Everest to throw at any violators. By the time the credits rolled, I found myself comparing this film more to Smokin' Aces than Bad Times at the El Royale, which isn't bad per se, but it is somewhat disappointing.

Special Effects/Atmosphere

Despite its futuristic setting, much of this film fittingly takes place in the Hotel Artemis, which is modelled after the grand skyscraper hotels that rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s. This architectural design aligns with much of the film's choice of music, which consists of classics like "California Dreamin'" and "Helpless." The way cinematographer, Chung-hoon Chung, presents the hotel's interior makes it feel like a maze-like bastion against the chaos of the outside. This all synergizes perfectly with Nurse's mind-set as a shut-in.

***

Every character has their own style, but the Wolf King's takes the cake

Visually, this movie is really something beautiful to behold. Beyond the hotel, the stylish costumes of the various characters makes everyone feel unique and special. Something I completely missed, but Igantiy Vishnevetsky noticed, was that footwear plays an important role in this film as every character is viewed by their shoes at some point or another. I rarely like to paraphrase other reviews, but I found that observation fascinating, and I congratulate this film on its knack for style and panache.

The Acting

It should go without saying, but Jodie Foster is the biggest draw to this film and her talent is awe-inspiring when put in comparison to everyone else on-screen. As much as I might like Charlie Day or Jeff Goldblum, Foster completely owns her role as the fragile Nurse. Considering this film is packed with badasses and gangsters, I found it surprising that the character I wanted to see most of was this haggard old woman that hyperventilates about the very prospect of stepping outside.

Let's be honest, 2018 just wasn't a good year for Sterling K. Brown. Although he does a better job in this film than he did in the horrendously bad, The Predator, I was never able to fully take him as seriously as I probably was supposed to. His interactions with Foster and Boutella were fairly good, but I never found Waikiki to be a compelling character.  His chemistry with Brian Tyree Henry was especially poor, which is a shame since their backstories are the most intertwined of all the characters. I've heard he's amazing in This is Us, and I thought he was great in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, but I guess he had some terrible luck with movie roles in 2018.

Everyone gets their time to shine in this film, with possibly the exception of Jeff Goldblum, who gets relatively barely any despite the fact that his character plays such a large role in the overall story. Everyone brings their own special qualities, but I think it was Dave Bautista who surprised me most. He's already established himself with Blade Runner 2049 and Guardians of the Galaxy, but his performance as the dull-witted and lumbering Everest was fairly entertaining to watch.

****

Everest takes his job very seriously

The Best of the Best: Jodie Foster remains an acting juggernaut that makes even the established cast in this film looking like little more than amateurs. 

The Worst of the Worst: The inconsistent behaviors of both the characters and the setting.

Calhooey Score: 7/10 - Good

Would I Recommend?

Despite the best efforts of its stellar cast, Hotel Artemis fumbles the ball at the worst of times, which leaves it soundly defeated by the superior Bad Times at the El Royale. With that said though, I still think that this is a fine action movie that is worth a watch. If all else fails, we get some good lines from Jeff Goldblum and Jodie Foster continues to shine. If I had gone to see this in theaters, I would've left content.

-------------------------------------------------Spoiler Comments-----------------------------------------------------

• Considering Waikiki came out of retirement and was willing to put everything on the line for his brother, he got over Honolulu's death pretty darn quick. I get that the final act carried a great deal of urgency, but I nearly laughed when Waikiki almost immediately took the half-glass-full mentality.
• Another issue I had with Waikiki was his interest in exploring Hotel Artemis despite being so cautious and attached to his brother. I get that it added tension for him to discover that a police officer was secretly being treated there, but it didn't seem to make all that much sense to me.
• For a highly trained assassin, I'd love to ask Nice why she decided to let Acapulco live after she assaulted him and explained who her target was. What if Acapulco had recovered faster and told Niagara? This decision was probably my greatest gripe with this film's story.
• So I get Everest is a big tough guy, but you're telling me that there are no weapons on-hand in the hotel in case one or more of the patients become violent? I guess Everest had to settle for Batista Bombing all of Crosby Franklin's goons.
• Speaking of Zachary Quinto's character, although I don't necessarily blame him for the awful Star Trek films he starred in, I couldn't help but feel a little satisfied with seeing him get tranquilized to death.
• Niagara's send-off was spectacular. Goldblum is a national treasure.

----------------------------------------------------References--------------------------------------------------

*IMDB. (n.d.). Hotel Artemis film cover image. Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5834262/.

**FFJohn. (2018, August 29). Nurse in Hotel Artemis image. Retrieved from: https://ffjohn.com/2018/08/29/writinglessons-hotel-artemis/.

***Goldblum Looks. (2018, May 2). Wolf King in sunglasses image. Twitter. Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/goldblumlooks/status/991673353563004929.

****TheNerdDaily. (n.d.). Everest gif. Pinterest. Retrieved from: https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/309622543135379810/.