In a Nutshell

It’s a busy night in ‘Hotel Artemis’ a members-only hospital for criminals. In this neo-noir thriller ‘The Nurse’ (Jodie Foster) struggles to keep up with the thugs, arms dealers, and various underworld characters that show up wounded on her hotel doorstep.

[imdb]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5834262/[/imdb]

Review

There’s a lot to admire and enjoy in Hotel Artemis, but ultimately it fails to hang together as a coherent piece. The film is clearly a labour of love for director Drew Pearce, with lots of great ideas, gorgeous set design, and intriguing characters. But there’s too little time and not enough focus to make everything work.

While Jodie Foster may find it hard to keep up with all of her wounded hotel residents, the film does too. Sterling K. Brown and Bryan Tyree Henry play bank-robbing brothers, Charlie Day is a misogynist loudmouth arms dealer, and Sofia Boutella is a femme fatale assassin. Add to this the imminent arrival of LA’s crime-lord The Wolf King (Jeff Goldblum) his son (Zachary Quinto) and their gang of cronies… and you don’t have much time to get to know any of the characters or truly care about their final fate.

A larger and more loosely drawn cast like this can work in a lighter action-thriller, which there are elements of here, but Hotel Artemis rightly aspires to be a more thoughtful and reflective sci-fi piece. The political and social climate shown in the film seems a perfect fit for exploring today’s big issues. The rioters surrounding the hotel are fighting against corporate privatisation of water, and there are some interesting questions raised about who deserves medical care and how much ability to pay should play into healthcare.

Beautiful Production Design

The visual aspects of the film reflect these concerns too. Although the organ 3D printer works well, constant power outages remind hotel residents of the chaos outside. The hotel itself mirrors this too with a consistent feel of decaying luxury, all art-deco gilding and faded greens and reds.

The film makes great use of the hotel as a unique place that is both dramatic and in-between space in film. Inside, one is both anonymous and public – murders are committed and affairs are conducted. Hotel Artemis functions as a dark safe-box in the middle of the Los Angeles Riots for the characters, and we feel the chaos of the outside riots encroaching into this safe space. Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung lingers over the interiors, letting the building play a role in the narrative.

No Room for Mystery

It would be wonderful to have some of the darkness and mystery of the film’s visuals brought more in the screenplay. With too many characters inputting into the plot, the film sags with exposition, every question explained and no mysteries left to linger. The riots outside are constantly referred to on TV screens, and characters are in constant conversation about what’s going on.

It’s refreshing to see an older woman at the heart of a narrative but Jodie Foster’s emotional backstory was overly laboured. There were several flashbacks to a happier time in her life, where one would have done. Foster is so accomplished an actor that these could easily have been cut for more personal scenes with her. The same could be said of most of the cast, many of whom didn’t ever really have a chance to shine. Jeff Goldblum’s appearance, in particular, is so brief that it feels more like a celebrity cameo than a supporting role.

It feels like there is a much better film at the heart of Hotel Artemis trying to get out, but there’s a lack of time and confidence to let the story develop over quieter moments. Mystery and ambiguity are looked over in favour of rushed plot developments and eye-catching action sequences.

Verdict

Beautiful production design, some great sci-fi concepts, and a stellar cast – it almost works. But Hotel Artemis suffers from trying to cram too much into too little space.