HOTEL ARTEMIS review - A criming shame
(Reviewed by Melody Werner)
Hotel Artemis is a 2018 futuristic crime film directed by Drew Pearce. Released by Open Road, it features Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, and Dave Bautista. It's about a hotel in a dystopian future which criminals who have been wounded can go to rather than a hospital (somewhere they would obviously be arrested at). Naturally, the riots outside cause frequent power outages and everyone has their own secrets or hidden motives. Hotel Artemis was met with mixed commercial reception and was a box office bomb despite its relatively low budget. Knowing this, I was still interested in the film for its John Wick-esque classy criminals, the hotel setting (one of my favorite films from last year was Bad Times at the El Royale, hint hint), and because I've been known to be much more positive towards films that may receive a mauling. And I definitely had a fairly pleasant experience with Hotel Artemis, even if I won't claim it's a hidden gem on par with Bad Times.
Many films of this strata suffer from poor production quality, but Hotel Artemis comes out mostly unscathed. Its sets are clean and this is a huge issue for a mostly contained thriller like this. But the lighting in certain moments can be a little too dim and towards the end of the film we get some pretty lackluster fight scenes which fail to elicit any other reaction than "Why are these here?" I like--no, LOVE--action, but only when it fits and is well executed. The camera, in these scenes, is too zoomed in and it makes (what appear to be) well enough choreographed fight sequences have no bite whatsoever as you can never see the cool things happening in all their grandeur at best or can't tell what the fuck's happening at worst. Some of these moments of action are spliced between more dramatic moments elsewhere with different characters, but we only see a glimpse of them before you're sent hurtling headfirst back to the drama. It leads to the action sequences really dragging the viewing experience down. Why am I supposed to care when you're just throwing so much bric-á-brac my way? Action aside, the musical score is impressive and something I'd very much like to get ahold of for listening to outside of the film, and the licensed tracks are well used though preference is as always a much bigger deal with vocal songs like those in determining if that's gonna be a black mark on the film for you.
Hotel Artemis boasts such a wonderful world and concept, that when you get a narrative that only reaches "compelling," it can be disappointing. But compelling is by no means a bad thing, it just never rises above keeping you interested enough. Thankfully, it is briskly paced so it never feels super dull or lifeless, and you're effectively carted along to each scene without too much rigmarole. What really pisses in my Cheerios when it comes to the characters is Brown's--who at the start is set up as a decently sympathetic character, before turning into a GINORMOUS asshole by the end of it for reasons too spoilery. Suffice to say, it really deflated one of the cooler aspects of the film as Sterling was doing a solid performance. The other characters, particularly Boutella's (though that may be more to do with her than HA), do shine. But this film, as I can deduce, enjoys making my Cheerios milk yellower, as it seems to really get off on the idea of having the appearance of social commentary--but without the social commentary. It's one of those feckless productions which spouts a bunch of vapid tripe and then wishes you aren't paying attention to the lack of anything going on under the hood here. And you know what? I can dig a purely escapist intended production. What I can't stand is something that tries to make you think it's got something insightful to say, but when you give it a chance it just vomits noncommital guff at you.
It's one of those middle budget flicks that manages to haul in some talented actors, and like most of those of its ilk HA is well acted. Boutella, as was the case in Atomic Blonde, absolutely steals the show--which makes it all the more depressing how her character meets such a confoundingly stupid fate. This is one of those movies where characters will make dumb self sacrifices (or at least try to) just to fabricate emotions in the audience. Two characters--two!--decide to try and sacrifice their lives back-to-back for no discernible reason. Like, they're on the threshold of escaping but they go "Naw, I'd rather kill myself because repaying what you did for me, something something." There's a point where sacrifices have crossed the line, and this goes light years beyond Pacific Rim territory--it's that bad.
Hotel Artemis is, at the end of the day, a film with lofty pretenses it falls out of reach of. For some, the ambition under the surface and competent levels of quality will be enough to make this a worthwhile watch. And for me, I wouldn't mind rewatching it by myself or putting it in during a movie night with someone who hadn't seen it. But it's a film that, the more I think about it, the less I enjoy it. There was so much potential here--so much buried beneath adequacy clawing, struggling to draw breath. I can't say that unlocking this potential would've made the film a commercial success, but it sure would've been a greater artistic achievement had it even tried to. Hotel Artemis gets an 8.5/10, despite my misgivings. As you can tell, I'm a lot torn on this one. I enjoyed watching it and it's not like it put me in some bad mood making it deserving of vitriol in kind; but it's a tepid recommendation all the same, even if I would put it on the same tier as films I enjoy much more than it. I've probably scorched it here so much so that it looks like I loathe it more than I do, but that's what ratings are for here. ;)
Great
Summary:
A competently made, polished enough, compelling enough, fine watch. For the majority of the film, it's a good time but the finale is such a downer it threatens to undermine everything else. I definitely think if it was drawn out any longer I would be more scornful of it than I am.
Hotel Artemis is a 2018 futuristic crime film directed by Drew Pearce. Released by Open Road, it features Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, and Dave Bautista. It's about a hotel in a dystopian future which criminals who have been wounded can go to rather than a hospital (somewhere they would obviously be arrested at). Naturally, the riots outside cause frequent power outages and everyone has their own secrets or hidden motives. Hotel Artemis was met with mixed commercial reception and was a box office bomb despite its relatively low budget. Knowing this, I was still interested in the film for its John Wick-esque classy criminals, the hotel setting (one of my favorite films from last year was Bad Times at the El Royale, hint hint), and because I've been known to be much more positive towards films that may receive a mauling. And I definitely had a fairly pleasant experience with Hotel Artemis, even if I won't claim it's a hidden gem on par with Bad Times.
Many films of this strata suffer from poor production quality, but Hotel Artemis comes out mostly unscathed. Its sets are clean and this is a huge issue for a mostly contained thriller like this. But the lighting in certain moments can be a little too dim and towards the end of the film we get some pretty lackluster fight scenes which fail to elicit any other reaction than "Why are these here?" I like--no, LOVE--action, but only when it fits and is well executed. The camera, in these scenes, is too zoomed in and it makes (what appear to be) well enough choreographed fight sequences have no bite whatsoever as you can never see the cool things happening in all their grandeur at best or can't tell what the fuck's happening at worst. Some of these moments of action are spliced between more dramatic moments elsewhere with different characters, but we only see a glimpse of them before you're sent hurtling headfirst back to the drama. It leads to the action sequences really dragging the viewing experience down. Why am I supposed to care when you're just throwing so much bric-á-brac my way? Action aside, the musical score is impressive and something I'd very much like to get ahold of for listening to outside of the film, and the licensed tracks are well used though preference is as always a much bigger deal with vocal songs like those in determining if that's gonna be a black mark on the film for you.
Hotel Artemis boasts such a wonderful world and concept, that when you get a narrative that only reaches "compelling," it can be disappointing. But compelling is by no means a bad thing, it just never rises above keeping you interested enough. Thankfully, it is briskly paced so it never feels super dull or lifeless, and you're effectively carted along to each scene without too much rigmarole. What really pisses in my Cheerios when it comes to the characters is Brown's--who at the start is set up as a decently sympathetic character, before turning into a GINORMOUS asshole by the end of it for reasons too spoilery. Suffice to say, it really deflated one of the cooler aspects of the film as Sterling was doing a solid performance. The other characters, particularly Boutella's (though that may be more to do with her than HA), do shine. But this film, as I can deduce, enjoys making my Cheerios milk yellower, as it seems to really get off on the idea of having the appearance of social commentary--but without the social commentary. It's one of those feckless productions which spouts a bunch of vapid tripe and then wishes you aren't paying attention to the lack of anything going on under the hood here. And you know what? I can dig a purely escapist intended production. What I can't stand is something that tries to make you think it's got something insightful to say, but when you give it a chance it just vomits noncommital guff at you.
It's one of those middle budget flicks that manages to haul in some talented actors, and like most of those of its ilk HA is well acted. Boutella, as was the case in Atomic Blonde, absolutely steals the show--which makes it all the more depressing how her character meets such a confoundingly stupid fate. This is one of those movies where characters will make dumb self sacrifices (or at least try to) just to fabricate emotions in the audience. Two characters--two!--decide to try and sacrifice their lives back-to-back for no discernible reason. Like, they're on the threshold of escaping but they go "Naw, I'd rather kill myself because repaying what you did for me, something something." There's a point where sacrifices have crossed the line, and this goes light years beyond Pacific Rim territory--it's that bad.
Hotel Artemis is, at the end of the day, a film with lofty pretenses it falls out of reach of. For some, the ambition under the surface and competent levels of quality will be enough to make this a worthwhile watch. And for me, I wouldn't mind rewatching it by myself or putting it in during a movie night with someone who hadn't seen it. But it's a film that, the more I think about it, the less I enjoy it. There was so much potential here--so much buried beneath adequacy clawing, struggling to draw breath. I can't say that unlocking this potential would've made the film a commercial success, but it sure would've been a greater artistic achievement had it even tried to. Hotel Artemis gets an 8.5/10, despite my misgivings. As you can tell, I'm a lot torn on this one. I enjoyed watching it and it's not like it put me in some bad mood making it deserving of vitriol in kind; but it's a tepid recommendation all the same, even if I would put it on the same tier as films I enjoy much more than it. I've probably scorched it here so much so that it looks like I loathe it more than I do, but that's what ratings are for here. ;)
Great
Summary:
A competently made, polished enough, compelling enough, fine watch. For the majority of the film, it's a good time but the finale is such a downer it threatens to undermine everything else. I definitely think if it was drawn out any longer I would be more scornful of it than I am.
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