The new film Hotel Artemis is as pulp as pulp fiction crime drama/action flicks get. It’s about a hospital for criminals in near-future Los Angeles. It stars a weird cavalcade of actors who are sometimes better than the material, sometimes seem out of place, and sometimes don’t get the screen time they need or take up too much of it.
The film is set in a 2028 Los Angeles in the middle of a city-wide riot. The cops are trying to manage the situation, the people want the privatized water that’s been shut down, and the Hotel Artemis is trying to keep running amidst the chaos.
Jodie Foster plays the nurse who runs the hotel and is assisted by the orderly, Dave Bautista. Sterling K. Brown is a bank robber who got caught up in the riots and needs help, Charlie Day is an arms dealer, Sofia Boutella is an international assassin, Jeff Goldblum is a crime lord, and Jenny Slate is a wounded cop. It’s a good cast… sometimes they are underused and sometimes they outclass the material.
Jodie Foster is bizarrely cast in this B grade sci-fi action crime drama. She’s playing an old woman and, yes, Foster is getting on in years but it’s startling to see her old-person shuffling around. I think she’s a great actress but I didn’t quite buy her world-weary aged persona. Maybe you might if you aren’t familiar with her… But she did get some good scenes that allowed her to ACT!! which I’m sure she appreciated (and so did I).
Sofia Boutella gets to do some pretty good hallway action scenes but her character is billed more bad-ass than she was allowed to show. Dave Bautista is funny in a Draxy sort of way and has a decent action scene. Jenny Slate’s story goes nowhere and Jeff Goldlum is wasted. Sterling K. Brown classes the place up as a dapper (but local) criminal.
There’s something… meandering… about this flick. It doesn’t feel like the story elements really tie together. The film is gives us a lot of sci-fi technology – holograms, nano-technology, etc… but I’m not sure why. It isn’t necessary for the plot or any story elements. There’s a water riot going on outside but it doesn’t tie in to much except for some off-hand references to making the masses pay for their water like everyone else. There’s various criminals running around the hotel and sometimes they also don’t seem to have connective tissue. It’s definitely a script and maybe an editing problem. It needed a few more passes to real adhere.
This isn’t a great movie but it’s a pretty good one if you want a pulpy crime story. There’s certainly a good cast who are working hard but they are betrayed by an unfocused script. But that doesn’t make it a terrible film… maybe the B side of a terrific John Wick single.
Score: 75