Hotel Artemis

Starring: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Dave Bautista, Charlie Day, Zachary Quinto
Directed by: Drew Pearce
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Hotel Artemis is a safe location for criminals to seek medical attention. It works because of its secrecy and the patients' adherence to the rules. On a night when riots ravage the city, patients start breaking rules and all hell breaks loose.

Review:

Tim: I'm still pretty stunned that I didn't care for Hotel Artemis. This is exactly the kind of movie I usually enjoy. It's a blend of science fiction and action, it takes a large, eccentric cast and it pits them against each other. I actually sat down to watch this movie with a strong sense of excitement. Drew Pearce has written some solid films, so I was eager to see what he would do with his feature film directorial debut. And then I watched the bland, forgettable Hotel Artemis. At one point, I tried to come up with reasons to like this film and I couldn't. Sure, there's nothing horrible here. It's just a lackluster debut. I had very little fun watching this movie. I was surprised that with some solid elements at play, this is the final result.

The idea of a futuristic secret hospital for criminals is so cool. I was immediately intrigued by this premise. It reminded me of The Continental from the John Wick movies. But here's the thing- Hotel Artemis isn't all that interesting. The premise is all about these ironclad rules that govern the establishment, but every character in the film begins breaking those rules almost simultaneously. Seriously, it took me a while watching this film to finally realize that Hotel Artemis isn't actually cool. It's a pretty boring place, overall. You can only blame Drew Pearce for this. There's secret passages, a futuristic security system, crazy medical technology and a collection of odd characters. And it all adds up to so very little. Even with this dangerous riot rushing towards the complex, none of it is particularly interesting or entertaining. It feels like a failed attempt to do something cool.

Pearce writes a film with arguably six main characters, gets solid to great actors to portray them, but doesn't give them nearly enough to do. Jodie Foster toplines the film and certainly is the highlight of the movie. Foster is a great actress and adds so much to this film. Her nurse might be flawed and frayed, but she's strong and tough as nails. It's really a great performance. She was the most interesting, complex character. While her arc hits a snag right before it feels like it reaches its crescendo, she's still the highlight of the film. I don't fault Foster at all- she did everything she could to make this movie work. I like Sterling K. Brown, but it feels like his character was so underwritten. He should have been one of the most fascinating characters, but he's not. He moves around and gets a bunch of screen time. We learn about his past, but he never seems to do anything of real substance. I have zero desire to see his character ever again (while I'd be interested in seeing the further adventures of Nurse). Brown plays the part well, but Pearce fumbled his character badly. I'm a big fan of Brian Tyree Henry from "Atlanta", but was disappointed he didn't have much to do here. It really felt like the characters played by Brown and Henry weren't utilized nearly enough. I've been continually disappointed in Sofia Boutella as an actress, and while she was decent here, it's not enough to change my opinion of her. Her character had some interesting quirks but her arc as a whole was disappointing. It wasn't just her ridiculous choice of clothing for what she was trying to do, it just felt like her whole story was poorly written. It felt like a draft. I was so excited to see Jeff Goldblum here, but his presence is totally wasted. He could have been such a cool character, but that never materializes. Like so much of the film, it ends up being a bitter disappointment. Dave Bautista probably gives the best performance I've seen outside of Guardians of the Galaxy and Blade Runner 2049, but I still have questions about his acting talent. Still, he was solid in a smaller supporting role. It actually felt like Pearce used him effectively. Charlie Day needs to never play a villain again. His performance here is terrible, although it's not quite as bad as (SPOILER) Pacific Rim: Uprising. The guy probably can't spell subtle, as his performance is again way too over-the-top and ridiculous. I liked seeing Zachary Quinto, but Pearce has perfected putting solid actors in bad roles and Quinto doesn't do anything interesting here. Really, as a whole, it's shocking how Pearce took a hell of a cast and outside of Foster and maybe Bautista, really puts them all in positions to fail. It's almost impressive.

To continue my rants about this film, the action scenes are fine, but too few and far between. The cast spends a lot of time talking. When the action comes, it's okay but there's never any great moments. Boutella's hallway fight might be the highlight, but it's nothing to write home about. This action movie is surprisingly light on action. There might be a few comedic, lighthearted moments from time to time, but it's not a movie that will really make you laugh.

It felt to me like Drew Pearce set out to make a super cool movie. From the cast he assembled, to the cutesy names for the characters, this is a film that tries so hard to be cool. The problem is that it isn't. There's nothing cool about this movie. It's a bland film. It never does anything outrageous to inspire hatred and it's pretty short, so it doesn't overstay it's welcome. It's simply not a good movie. There's nothing inspiring about anything here. Foster was a godsend because the movie is worth watching for her performance. I'm not sure what Drew Pearce has lined up next, but I'll be approaching it with extreme skepticism.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: John Wick, Smokin' Aces, Bad Times at the El Royale