Hotel Artemis

Dir Drew Pearce, US 2018 On UK release from 20 July

When the first John Wick film was released, alongside its stunning action set pieces it also introduced a secretive criminal society ruled by elaborate codes of conduct. While this world would be explored further in John Wick:

Chapter 2, the focus of the John Wick films has always been on the stunt choreography first and foremost.

Hotel Artemis can be viewed as the other side of the John Wick coin, as it deals with the inner workings of a fictional world inhabited by assassins, arms dealers, organised crime bosses and small-time crooks; but rather than a string of action-packed showdowns, this film centres on their (unarmed) interactions as clients of a underground hospital. Jodie Foster runs the show as an agoraphobic nurse with a dubious past, and Dave Bautista assists her as possibly the bulkiest orderly to ever grace the silver screen.

The film does a good job at world-building, successfully establishing both the physical setting of the hotel as well as the practical circumstances responsible for its inhabitants’ plight. This is not least thanks to its charismatic roster of talent, boasting names such as Jeff Goldblum, Sterling K Brown and Sofia Boutella, and they make the most of what they have been given. However, Hotel Artemis does not give them that much to work with, as the film is so focused on its retaining its sense of mystery that it mostly neglects fleshing out the characters beyond the superficial level. A few secrets are uncovered here and there, but the film is ultimately so lacking in suspense that very little momentum is built up, resulting in this feeling surprisingly long for a film with modest 94-minute runtime.

Thus, while the film’s premise is interesting enough in and of itself to merit a viewing, its execution of said premise unfortunately favours style over substance. It ends up being an inoffensive but also rather forgettable story about the inner workings of the seedy underbelly of a big city in the near future.