Jodie Foster is in top-form as the agoraphobic but duty-driven Nurse.
The year is 2028 and Los Angeles is under siege by rioters protesting the actions of Clearwater, a mega-corporation that now controls the city’s water supply. In the middle of the riots, a pair of brothers, Sherman and Lev (Sterling K. Brown and Brian Tyree Henry,) try to pull off a bank heist.
Things go south and both men are wounded in a gunfire exchange with police. Sherman makes a call to The Nurse (Jodie Foster) and arranges for medical care at the Hotel Artemis. The hotel is a secret hospital especially for criminals. However, membership is required and there is a very strict set of rules. The Artemis has existed for two decades and no one has broken those rules. On this particular day, however, the rules will be bent, broken, and stomped on as three criminal worlds collide.
While watching Drew Pearce’s Hotel Artemis, I was immediately reminded of a similar premise featured in 2014’s John Wick. However, since so-called “dark rooms” (emergency rooms for criminals) actually exist, claiming that Pearce stole the idea wouldn’t necessarily be correct. In addition, Pearce’s film takes place entirely in the hospital, has more of a dystopian angle, and is much less action-driven.
Jodie Foster is in top-form as the agoraphobic but duty-driven Nurse. She delivers a running monologue that is well-written and delivered with precise wit. Her character shares great on-screen chemistry with her medical assistant/bouncer, Everest (Dave Bautista.) Bautista exhibits the excellent comedic timing that makes him so enjoyable as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
I enjoyed that the hotel’s origins aren’t revealed outright and there’s a bit of mystery to The Nurse. The guests are all given nicknames based on the rooms they are given. An arms dealer dubbed Acapulco (Charlie Day) and an assassin named Nice (Sofia Boutella) each provide different perspectives on the history of the hotel and its previous guests. Other eventual arrivals, including characters played by Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, and Jeff Goldblum, also add more pieces to The Nurse’s puzzle.
What I didn’t enjoy, though, were the gaffes and plot holes that make the third act unnecessarily confusing and disappointing. For a story that places so much emphasis on following the rules, the script tends to forget certain details, change some midstream, or just leave other things unresolved. It’s a shame because the film’s scenario and photography are quite captivating and the impressive cast delivers excellent performances all-around.
Hotel Artemis isn’t a total waste of time. (Foster’s performance is well-worth seeing.) I wonder what this project could have been with more attention paid to the rules of writing a cohesive script.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
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