Movies

‘Hotel Artemis’ Movie Review: An Intriguing Premise Can Only Carry This Thriller So Far

Do you ever watch a film and think it has a lot on its mind but you’re never quite sure what it’s trying to say? Hotel Artemis starts off promisingly enough; its opening even had me thinking of RoboCop, one of the best examples ever of combining lowbrow thrills with highbrow themes. Artemis has a similar setup of a near-future, crime-ridden cityscape with an innovation designed to clean this mess up that is maybe not so utopian as promised. The hook here is certainly intriguing. The title locale is a hospital catering to criminal members that operates by a code of honor: as long as you behave yourself inside and keep the place a secret, you can misbehave as much as you want outside. But it is ultimately just a superficially jazzed-up version of so many crime flicks we have seen before.

Any hint of a deeper message fades away as it gradually becomes clear that writer/director Drew Pearce is just borrowing ideas from earlier, better films without giving them his own spin. Take the water supply corruption angle of Chinatown, add in the “you’re never out of the game” piece of every assassin movie ever, and you’ve got Hotel Artemis. And all that is just window dressing anyway. Some juicy moments emerge in the form of Charlie Day’s deranged guest refusing to play by the rules, or Sofia Boutella deploying a well-timed leg swivel or even just an eyeroll to ensure her action star bona fides. But as committed as they are, the conflicts they get caught up in are all a bunch of hot air.

For an outlandish premise like this one to work, it typically needs to be grounded by some low-key characters. Artemis does have those, in the form of Jodie Foster’s nurse/manager and Sterling K. Brown’s nattily dressed, upstanding criminal. Alas, the former must contend with a vague backstory about a dead son, while the latter is saddled with the aforementioned hitman cliché. As they make their way around the besieged building, there is a sense that they are looking for their story’s message that maybe has something to do with how we live now, or the future of city living, or the tropes of genre movies. But that message never comes into focus. Oh well, at least there’s Cliff Martinez’s synthy score to groove along to.

Starring: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jenny Slate, Charlie Day, Dave Bautista, Brian Tyree Henry, Zachary Quinto, Jeff Goldblum

Director: Drew Pearce

Running Time: 94 Minutes

Rating: R for Gunfire, Throat Slitting, and Unhinged Profanity

Release Date: June 8, 2018

Jeffrey Malone

Recent Posts

Who Is Miss Universe 2024, Rape-Victim Victoria Kjær Theilvig Of Denmark, Who Grew Up In Family Of Drug Addicts?

Victoria Kjær Theilvig of Denmark was crowned Miss Universe 2024 last week. She became the…

3 hours ago

VIDEO: Cincinnati Zoo Animals Have A Snow Day

https://youtu.be/sy8oPycsmfg Adorable footage taken by Brookfield Zoo Chicago shows their resident animals embracing the first…

3 hours ago

VIDEO: Fire At Oil Waste Treatment Plant Sends Plumes Of Smoke Skyward

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BrI_cGUV3Po A fire broke out at an oil waste treatment plant in Anelo, Argentina, on…

5 hours ago

Sarah Palin Vents Her Frustration At Trump After Failing To Get A Cabinet Position

In recent social media posts, Sarah Palin appeared to be venturing her frustration over presidential-elected Donald Trump for not receiving a spot…

8 hours ago

Sean Combs’ Bodyguard Claims Mogul Performed Bird Sacrifice Before His NYC Nightclub Shooting Verdict In 1999

Sean Combs' former bodyguard, Gene Deal, revealed that the rap mogul sacrificed a bird in 1999 before…

9 hours ago

VIDEO: Dozens Of Homes Engulfed As Fire Burns In Manila

https://youtu.be/6L7rpRO5VEk A five-alarm fire engulfed multiple homes in Isla Puting Bato, in Manila’s Tondo district in…

11 hours ago