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'Hotel Artemis'

Interesting Premise, Let Down by a Lack of Comedic Moments

By Thomas MartinPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Not exactly subtle or low-key

Starring – Jodie Foster, Dave Bautista, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day

Director – Drew Pearce

Rating – 15

Length – 1hr 34min

The idea of a hospital for criminals is an interesting premise for a movie, backed by a quirky and unexpected cast Hotel Artemis aims to be this years Welcome to Collinwood.

The movie is set in the near future; there are riots in the street, a water shortage, power outages and a curfew. We are introduced to a gang of bank robbers trying unsuccessfully to get into a vault, the leader Waikiki (Brown) suggests they take everything the bank customers have instead; his brother Honolulu (Henry) takes a pen off a serious man who asks him not to, he doesn’t listen. The gang is attacked by riot police, one of them is killed; Honolulu and Buke (Choi) are injured. Waikiki makes a phone call and they set off for safety.

They arrive at the hotel, the two brothers are allowed entry; in order to get into the hotel, you have to be a member and your payments have to be up to date, unfortunately Buke’s were not. The Nurse (Foster) calls Everest (Bautista) the hospital orderly and asks him to remove Buke from the hotel. He doesn’t go quietly, tries to attack Everest, this doesn’t work out well and he is left outside to fend for himself. There are other people at the hotel for treatment; Nice (Boutella), an assassin who seems to know Waikiki; has a bullet wound in her arm and Acapulco (Day), a sleazy arms dealer has a wound on his throat.

The Nurse receives a call that another patient will be coming to the hotel, the crime kingpin of Los Angeles, The Wolf King (Goldblum) as he is called, has been shot and is on his way right now. Before they arrive Waikiki shows Nice the pen his brother stole, she recognises it, tell him it belongs to the Wolf King and is used to transport small and valuable cargo. Before anything else can happen, The Wolf King arrives with a lot of armed guards and his son Crosby (Quinto); things have gone from bad to worse for everyone at the hotel.

The plot shifts into high gear when Jeff Goldblum arrives, so many of the movies sub-plots kick in and a lot of questions start to be answered; such as the real reason Nice is there, how an injured cop found the Hotel, and why is she calling the nurse Mrs. Thomas.

As I said earlier, Hotel Artemis fits in the same genre as Welcome to Collinwood, and while Hotel Artemis is funny, it doesn’t have the same calibre of comedic talent Welcome to Collinwood had. What it does have though is a spectacular scene in a hallway involving Nice, a lot of bad guys and a load of knives; it’s the highlight of the movie.

The movie is funny just not as funny as the talent or trailer would suggest. Dave Bautista has some funny moments but it’s very similar to his performance as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2 and Avengers: Infinity War. The funniest actor in the movie is actually Sterling K. Brown. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to show much of his comedic talent here; his performance in a recent episode of the brilliant Brooklyn Nine Nine is fantastic to watch.

The rest of the cast is stellar and are all very funny but they don’t get to showcase that here, especially Charlie Day, if you have watched Pacific Rim, then you will know he can put in a really hilarious performances.

I enjoyed this movie, it’s a good way to spend one hour thirty four minutes, solid performances, great action, and some humorous moments, make for a good but forgettable movie.

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About the Creator

Thomas Martin

Husband, Father, Movie nut.

Trained Journalist specialised in Movie Reviews.

Website - https://thesilvertheatreblog.wordpress.comTwitter - s1lvertheatre

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