Hotel Artemis (2018) is the film equivalent of an angler fish, dangling a pretty facade of intriguing storytelling in front of the jagged maw of action-packed disappointment. From first appearances, this dystopian crime thriller looks great, with its stylized retro-futuristic vibe, and fantastic art direction, but what audiences get is a fairly surface-level action thriller. This is made all the more disappointing by the presence of the film's star-studded cast, including the enigmatic Jodie Foster, Dave Barista, Sterling K Brown, and the weirdly non-Jeff-Goldblum Jeff Goldblum, who the film does not do justice to.
The film promises great things, and does have its great moments, but is let down by its often sloppy storytelling, and severe lack of character development and depth. The story takes place during a riot-torn Los Angeles in the not-too-distant future (2028), where corporations have privatized water. The audience is not given much more than this, other than a classic case of the people vs money hoarding business, who seem to be charged ridiculous prices for the necessary commodity of water. The film doesn't go into too much detail about this - whether there is a mass scale drought, or global warming is at play, are things never addressed, and audiences are left with the simple premise that for whatever reason, there are violent riots taking place across the city.
Audiences are first introduced to a troupe of bank robbers, led by the calm and collected Sterling K Brown (From The Predator) - we are never told his character's real name - and his less charismatic brother. In true action-film fashion not everything goes to plan and they are forced to leave relatively empty handed, escaping from the scene of the crime in what can only be described as the messiest way possible. They fail to slip away unnoticed despite the chaos of the riot around them, and start a completely unnecessary shootout with the police force. They manage to escape, but Brown's brother is shot and bleeding out, forcing them to take refuge in what is possibly the film's only saving grace - the Hotel Artemis.
This is one of the best things about this film, paired with the rich performance by the great Jodie Foster. The Artemis is a secret hospital and hotel for criminals, run by Jody Foster's (most known for Silence of the lambs) character ‘The Nurse’ and her aptly named giant of an orderly ‘Everest’ played by Dave Bautista. Everest is to a T a Bautista typecast character, large, scary and strong, but also kind and loyal with a heart of gold (Similarly to Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy).
The art department worked wonders here, as the entire set is a beautiful blend of aged 1920s art deco architecture, with painted vistas and green and gold gilded wallpaper, and almost steam punk futurism with large conduits and fancy door locking mechanisms. It shows a far dirtier, visceral prediction of what technology might look like in the not too distant future, including 3d printers for organs, and plasma scalpels.It is here through the arrival of Brown and his brother, audiences are introduced to the other patients/patrons of the hotel - other criminals in need of some TLC.
Sofia Boutella plays the codenamed ‘Nice,’ a hired assassin at the hotel on an undercover hit, and surprisingly Always Sunny’s Charlie Day makes an appearance as a characteristically unhinged and arrogant arms dealer. A short while later we are introduced to ‘The Wolf King,’ the city's all powerful crime boss, played by Jeff Goldblum. It’s odd to see Goldum play a role where he’s not his usual Goldblum self, and while his performance was arguably one of the better in the film, it lacked his usual flair and fell somewhat flat.
While the story unfolds it becomes more and more apparent that despite the foundation of the story being sound, a brilliant backdrop and concept, the movie feels unfinished or not fleshed out. They introduce an array of characters with interesting backstories and lives, but never really go past the surface. On the occasion when they do it’s for fleeting moments, and even then the ‘revelations’ they give audiences are thrown away.
An example of this is how it is slowly revealed that The Nurse has lost her child, and it's because of this she set up the hospital under the guiding hand of ‘The Wolf King'. But no sooner do viewers learn this than it's revealed it was actually the Wolf King who killed him. It’s these moments of gasp-inducing revelation that loses all power through a lack of memorable setup - the scene really only holds up through the wonderful delivery and rapport between Foster and Goldblum.
Hotel Artemis is a stone's throw away from being a good film. It had a solid premise, with a potential to have a rich character arc portrayed by an excellent cast of skilled actors, and an intriguing plot. It sets itself up to be a mystery, with a roster of different suspicious players, but then descends fairly quickly into an action flick centered about fight sequences and surprisingly unorganized crime syndicate shenanigans.
The icing on the cake for the film descending into a derailed rollercoaster of lost potential is the entire ending sequence. As things escalate, the Wolf King is murdered by Nice, her target all along, and chaos ensues. What happens is odd choice after odd choice written in to give each character their 30 second ‘Go on without me’ monologue, and epic fight sequence. While the film feels like a visual representation of budget cuts, and could be the next Sci-Fi flop, it’s still worth the ride simply to watch Jodie Foster on the big screen, with her portrayal of The Nurse being by far the highlight of the film.