'Hotel Artemis' A Review

Hotel Artemis is a scifi crime film set in a not-to-distant dystopian LA where a massive riot is brewing after the privatization of water. The film opens on a botched bank heist where Sherman(Sterling K. Brown) and his brother(Brian Tyree Henry) are injured. They retreat to the members-only underground hospital called Hotel Artemis to get patched up. Overseen and operated by The Nurse(Jodie Foster) and her orderly Everest(Dave Bautista) the establishment begins to fill up, tensions rise, and the riot outside bubbles.

It is an ensemble film but Foster is the clear and striking stand out, delivering a eccentric, layered, and emotional performance. She hasn't been in front of the camera since 2013's Elysim and this is such a powerhouse portrayal it can't help but elicit yearning for more Foster. Even after a fiv year hiatus from acting she's more dynamic than ever. Bautista is the other stand out, with incredible chemistry with Foster the two anchor the film in a necessary way- the main character of the film is, essentially, the hotel and Foster's and Bautista's characters are its avatars. The rest of the stacked ensemble are all good- Brown, Jeff Goldblum, Sofia Boutella- with moments of humor and flashes of character but Foster is the main and most persuasive reason to watch.

The production design is an odd and interesting mix of of retro and futurism. The visuals dark and saturated with bursts of neon. The score thrums and the script, well, the script is enough of a platform for the very talented and eclectic cast to shine. Clearly the main focus of the film is the location itself, the machinations of the plot or secondary to it and the world building of 2028 LA. And that's fine. The film is fresh in most of its aspects namely casting and production design but fails to do much of anything new with plotting. Which doesn't particularly matter, in this age of reboots and sequels and franchises even this somewhat derivative thriller feels original if not altogether coherent.

Rent It.