Review of Hotel Artemis (2018) by Alan W — 25 Jul 2018

Jodie Foster looks like Michael J Fox in drag and shuffling along like Estelle Getty in The Golden Girls, as she plays The Nurse who runs a membership hotel/hideout/hospital for criminals who can pay when they are seriously in need of medical attention.

Reminiscent of both film noir and haunted house stories where strangers come to spend one fateful night together, Drew Pierce's film is set over the course of a Wednesday night when a dystopian L.

A. in the near future is besieged with rioting while various seedy characters check in to the hotel. Supported by a familiar looking and rather watchable cast that includes Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us), Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Sofia Boutella (The Mummy), Zachery Quinto (Heroes, Star Trek), Charlie Day (Jason Bateman comedies) and Jeff Goldblum for whom I don't need to quote anything, this is a handsome looking film, slickly executed by the guy who brought us the Daredevil TV series on Netflix.

Unfortunately, this also has the feel of a Netflix TV movie, where production are highly stylised to compensate for its limited budget and the use of the same claustrophobic setting throughout the film.

Some of the expository dialogue that can come across as clunky and the story is fairly basic and superficial too, like a 60s gangster B-movie, except this is science-fictionized via the futuristic-retro route that Blade Runner introduced decades ago.

It is fine if you like this sort of thing (which I admit I do) but it is also fairly forgettable even though it is definitely fun while it lasts.