HOTEL ARTEMIS film review – By Mark Glass

Jodie Foster excels with understated lead role in dystopian-future crime thriller

– By Mark Glass –

3 stars of 5, Rated R

As crime thrillers go, this one is fairly intense. Among those set in some sort of dystopian future, it’s more of a head-scratcher. This Los Angeles exists in a time of water deprivation and corporate control of resources. I think. Despite the potential for social or political relevance, we never learn how they got there, or how to prevent/remedy that sad state of affairs. The premise only serves to put the characters in dark, gloomy settings during a long, bloody night of mayhem.

Jodie Foster is a nurse who runs a members-only secret clinic for wounded criminals in the ultra-secure upper floors of the eponymous, and otherwise empty, hotel. When a bank job goes wrong, she admits one of her regulars (Sterling K. Brown) and his critically-injured brother (Brian Tyree Henry). The former is really a good guy who has long wanted out of the biz, but keeps getting sucked back in to protect his weaker sibling. Among the other patients is Sofia Boutella, again playing a super-sexy assassin, though without the springblade legs that made her role so sensational in Kingsman: The Secret Service. Still just as sexy, and almost as deadly.

Complicating the proceedings are the riots outside over lack of water and the impending arrival of the city’s major crime boss (Jeff Goldblum), who also financed the facility. There are a few more players and backstories fleshing out the production, but that’s all you need for now. Most of the action occurs in dingy rooms and hallways, making over two hours of running time somewhat claustrophobic.

Foster is excellent, as usual. The R rating is mostly for its gory bits, rather than sex. Learning about the characters along the way creates some empathy, but the unanswered questions about how our today morphed into that bleak tomorrow prevented the deeper connection that was easily within reach.

© Mark Glass