Director:Â Drew Pearce
Cast:Â Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day
Rating: 15
Running time: 93 mins
Release date:Â 20/07/2018
Set in riot-torn 2028 Los Angeles during a clean water shortage, Hotel Artemis, Drew Pearce‘s directorial debut, finds itself released in the middle of the Summer with Disney Pixar animated films to the left, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson action movies in the middle and a new Mission Impossible instalment to the right. It’s daring to be original, speak a political tone which warrants conversion whilst at the same time aiming for the type of audience who enjoyed Old Boy, Dredd, High-Rise: films with style, hyper-violence and a solid cast. And with Hotel Artemis piping the others in terms of star power, with an unholy amount of great actors such as the returning Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day and the almost film stealing legend that is Dave Bautista, it’s no wonder Hotel Artemis is a great alternative for your viewing pleasure.
Jodie Foster plays Nurse Jean Thomas of the world famous Hotel Artemis, a hotel for the criminal and the rich, allowing the scum of the underworld a place of treatment, laying low and a good nights sleep. A place you wouldn’t think could possibly exist without the rules set by Nurse Thomas and her trust sidekick Everest, played by Dave Bautista, that allows the Hotel to be so successful for so many years.
But during city wide riots between the poorest part of the city against the authorities, and with the first step of a failed bank heist between two brothers leading to numerous set backs and twists, Hotel Artemis is fast paced, very funny and keeps the fight scenes and action easy to follow and straight to the point. In a light 97 minute run time, the film does a brilliant job of tying all the character arcs together and have it brilliantly interwoven with each other to create strong chemistry between the actors and lead to some fantastic scenes, especially with Charlie Day’s horrible turn of an arms dealer with a mouth, Sofia Boutella’s silent but deadly assassin and Jeff Goldblum playing a mafia boss Jeff Goldblum (what more could you ask for?)
Overall, Hotel Artemis is different, forward-thinking and plays it smarter compared to it’s competition and neatly wraps everything up without wanting more. Foster’s return, in a fun, balanced act is welcomed and is the conductor of this symphony of great performances, along with a script that doesn’t fill in for time. A hearty effort well worth price of admission.
