Jeri Jacquin
Coming this Friday from writer/director Drew Pearce and
Global Road Entertainment is the story of membership to the exclusive HOTEL
ARTEMIS.
It is 2028 and the city of Los Angeles
Shot up and running from the cops, the end up at the Hotel
Artemis, an exclusive hotel that caters as a secret and safe place for
criminals. Running the floor is The Nurse (Jodie Foster), a woman who clearly
has seen the rear-end of life but knows her stuff. She is assisted by the very
large Everest (Dave Bautista) who handles anyone that gets out of line.
The Nurse immediately gives the brothers the names Waikiki
(Sterling K. Brown) and Honolulu Honolulu
There are other guests already on the floor with the ever
complaining Acapulco
While working on Honolulu ,
she gets a call from Crosby Franklin (Zachary Quinto), the arrogant offspring
of the Hotel Artemis owner Niagara (Jeff
Goldblum). He threatens that if anything happens to his father, The Nurse will
pay – dearly.
If she didn’t have enough to worry about with a full house,
she catches on her camera a young woman calling out her name. Helping her is
going to cause problems but it seems The Nurse specializes in solving the
unsolvable.
As the riot moves ever closer, the Hotel Artemis starts to
break down as the guests get nervous about the outside getting in. Maybe they
should worry more about how to get out before that happens!
Foster as The Nurse is absolutely brilliant! I love this
character with her frailties, flaws, uncertainties and memories yet she can put
a body back together in no time flat. Spending years on this special floor,
Foster’s character is run down having seen almost everything – almost. I have
always been a fan of Ms. Foster’s (CONTACT is a guilty pleasure) and this
character is just stunning.
Brown as Waikiki is dealing with a brother who consistently
screws things up, a run in with a former lover and getting the inside scoop on
the inner workings of Hotel Artemis. All of that will come in handy when what
his brother innocently took turns out to the be one thing that will get them
killed. Brown does a remarkable job of being smooth under pressure and never
once raises his voice although he certainly has plenty of reason too.
Boutella as Nice is simple a woman who has a job to do and
no one or nothing is going to get in her way. Knowing her worth, it is a joy to
see her take on the employer! Day as Acapulco
Bautista as Everest is a body guard as well as a ‘health
care provider’ who shows intense loyalty to The Nurse and doesn’t suffer fools.
Knowing what is the right thing and actually doing it doesn’t seem to be an
issue for him, he just wants to follow the rules and get through the riot
alive.
Goldblum as Niagara has
some explaining to do but then again it’s Goldblum, his mere presence tends to
be enough for me. Quinto as Crosby needs to be
slapped several times but that’s the parent in me talking, and Slate as Morgan
shows us that there is more to The Nurse than anyone has ever known.
Other cast include Kenneth Choi as Buke, Josh Tillman as
P-22, Evan Jones as Trojan Nash, Nathan Davis Jr. as Rocco and Ramses Jiminez
as Tariq.
HOTEL ARTEMIS is a place where bad guys go to find safety
and be patched up if needs be. What it doesn’t know how to do is survive this
batch of crazy people in the middle of a rioting city. Managing to keep it
together long enough for the audience to learn the back story in the 93 minute
film is perfect, anything longer would have ruined it.
It twists and turns down the hotel hallways giving us quick
stories and an equal amount of action to go along with it. I suppose what made
me the happiest is that it wasn’t a prequel, sequel, retelling or remaking of
another story. That in itself deserves high praises and I’m sending it their
way.
Director Pearce gives us something different and although I
followed along a little too easily, I had a good time. There is something to be
said for quick and to the point and HOTEL ARTEMIS gives exactly that.
In the end – no guns, no cops and no killing the other
patients!
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