Film Review - Hotel Artemis (15)

You're lucky this place has rules.

Hotel Artemis is a particular kind of treat during the summer film season. It's a relatively small-scale studio production that some critics are calling a 'curio', presumably because it's a genre straddler - part dsytopian sci-fi, part noir crime thriller. (Note - it has more heart than you often find in either of those.) In other words, Artemis is a true original - not perfect, but refreshingly unexpected. 

It's the baby of first-time feature director Drew Pearce, who already has writing credits on Iron Man 3 and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. Based in Los Angeles 2028 during the biggest riots ever experienced by that city, the 'Artemis' of the title is a one-time hotel converted to a hospital catering solely to criminals. It's a word-of-mouth deal, depending on honour among thieves (and the rest of the underworld) to retain the anonymity of the place. Jodie Foster plays The Nurse, a formidable matron-cum-surgeon, whose strictly enforced code keeps much-needed order. (One neat detail has the criminal inmates only ever referred to by the names of the hotel-suite in which they convalesce - Waikiki, Nice or Honolulu.) On this night of rioting, however, the combination of patients - including two bank-robbing brothers, a wickedly efficient assassin and a crime-boss with interests in the hospital - threaten the chaos the Nurse has thus far managed to avoid.

Pearce's movie has a number of key pleasures, a major one being its central location. The 'Artemis' combines gone-to-seed hotel plushness with advanced medical tech - a creepily eccentric environment. Surrounded by a city-in-meltdown and populated by reprobates, the hotel has an atmosphere reminiscent of the recent Purge horror films, while the script establishes a distinctively grim sense of humour. There's also considerable intricacy to the plotting, individual cogs (and characters) meshing in surprising ways. Even if the latter stages rely too much on coincidence and familiar story-tropes, the movie's world has established enough individuality by then for it not to matter.

The writer/director makes the most of his fine ensemble cast, Foster proving (no surprise) first among equals. Her performance as the enigmatic Nurse has both steel and pathos; it's a lovely turn, showing the double Oscar-winner back at her formidable big-screen best. Sterling K. Brown, awarded for hit TV series This is Us (and popping up briefly in Black Panther), exhibits leading-man credentials as one of the sibling-thieves. Sophia Boutella meanwhile makes for a thrillingly ruthless hit-girl, while Charlie Day is both hilarious and vile as the creepy 'Acapulco'. And Guardians of the Galaxy's Dave Bautista makes us laugh again, this time as a brutish security guard (he insists on the term 'health care professional') called Everest. 

As for the identity of the big-bad criminal boss, that's a secret better kept unspoiled, if you've so far avoided the trailer... 

Hotel Artemis combines intrigue and sometimes-brutal action, in a quirky noir setting that's not quite anything you've experienced before. It also finds a surprising degree of humanity and character-depth in this hospital-for-scumbags. In a summer full of the usual action juggernauts, super-heroics and sequels, it's fun to find a piece of mainstream cinema that tells a different kind of tale. One that doesn't neatly fit any storytelling mould.

Gut Reaction: Laughed, felt thrilled, remained engrossed throughout. Started caring about whether certain characters would make it to the end. (Always a very good sign). 

Where Are the Women?: Jodie Foster is back in a terrific role, where she belongs. And Sofia Boutella convinces anyone with a brain not to mess with her.

Ed's Verdict: 7.5/10. I loved the look and feel of Hotel Artemis, the place and the movie. Much as I tire of sequels, this is an establishment I would happily visit again.