Worth checking in for the night
Hotel Artemis (15)
Jodie Foster makes her first big screen appearance since 2013’s ropey Elysium in this odd-but-intriguing action-thriller.
At the other end of the cinematic experience scale is writer-director Drew Pearce, whose contributions to Iron Man 3 and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’s stories were his only previous work behind the camera.
Together they combine for a tumultuous tale set in a riot-torn, near-future Los Angeles where Foster’s Nurse runs a secret, members-only emergency room for criminals.
The main issue I had with Hotel Artemis was how the central concept lacked the creativity and originality you might initially expect as it shares similarities with The Continental setting in the John Wick movies.
In fact, most of the characters here wouldn’t look out of place trying to hunt down Keanu Reeves’ Wick in the next instalment of that bone-crunching franchise.
Don’t write Hotel Artemis off, though, as it still serves up a feast of gleeful pulpy entertainment with a few surprises along the way.
If you thought the America in the Purge series was a sorry place to live, just check this out as walls are erected, California is ridden with drought and deadly riots are fought over the simple pleasure of drinking clean water.
Pearce belies his directorial inexperience by capturing this dystopian environment in grim, gritty fashion; and he does a particularly fine job of emphasising the titular hotel’s grandiose and troubled past through visual clues and quirks.
He’s also coaxed a grand cast to check in as Foster – who adds much poignancy and reflection to her custodian – is joined by fellow acting royalty Jeff Goldblum (Niagara).
Goldblum may not be as wildly zany as he was in last year’s Thor: Ragnarok, but instead exhibits a rarely seen dark side behind his outwardly charming hotel owner.
The veterans are surrounded by more fresh faces – in terms of time spent on the big screen – such as Sterling K. Brown, playing chaotic bank robber Waikiki, and Sofia Boutella who makes a much better fist of gun-toting assassin Nice than seducing Tom Cruise as The Mummy.
Former wrestler Dave Bautista’s (Everest) movie career continues to blossom and Artemis marks Foster’s first role in five years Zachary Quinto (Crosby) and Charlie Day (Acapulco) are welcome presences.
Comparisons with John Wick inevitably also mean measuring up its action sequences against that series and while there is plenty of bang-for-your-buck here, overall they come up a little short.
As watchable and cool as most of the characters are, it’s only really Foster who is given significant depth and among the chaos, it’s hard to care too much who lives or dies.
But as an exercise in gritty sci-fi with interesting ideas and framing a future that chillingly may not be out of the question, it’s worth checking in to Hotel Artemis.