Hotel Artemis (2018)

Director: Drew Pearce

Writer: Drew Pearce

Composer: Clint Martinez

Starring: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutelia, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day, Dave Bautista, Kenneth Choi

More info: IMDb

Tagline: No Guns, No Cops, No Killing The Other Patients

Plot: Set in riot-torn, near-future Los Angeles, 'Hotel Artemis' follows the Nurse, who runs a secret, members-only emergency room for criminals.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably not.

This follows the likes of JOHN WICK (2014) in that it kind of has that  criminal underworld world-building going on with a society of criminals who pay for the privilege of being cared for in an exclusive off the radar hospital.  And like JOHN WICK, the hospital has strict rules that go against what criminals are used to like giving up your weapons at the door, be nice to the staff and guests and so on.  Nearly the entire picture is set in the hotel which is an Art Deco style one hundred year old joint that looks lived in and the lighting and decor give it a nice film noir vibe which also elicits a BLADE RUNNER (1982) vibe.  In fact there were times when we got to see the city scape at night and I so wanted to hear some of that delicious Vangelis score or see some Spinners flying around.  The cast does a wonderful job and first time director (who also wrote this picture) Drew Pearce comes out with a great debut film.  I was a little tickled to see that he produced a fun British TV comedy favorite of mine, NO HEROICS (2008).

The story works nicely with a little something for all of the main characters.  For some you get some back story bits and for others they fill their position to serve the story but not in a cheap way that insults the audience.  The only thing I found lacking was the final act when the shit goes down and things move more quickly to get us to the finish line.  The Nurse thread wraps up a bit heavy-handed and I didn't feel any tension or rush up to that moment.  There is room for a sequel (and I will be there front and center to see if that happens) even though this film doesn't set up for one (which was nice).