Hotels and a dystopian sci-fi future? Hmmm...ok. I did not know much about this movie going into this except it had a star-studded cast that features actors that I am fans of and the set-up to a place reminded of a very familiar franchise, John Wick. It had a solid setup but it had a great set-up to a location where criminals and assassins can relax and not perform their "business", The Continental. It is an awesome place that I may or may not want to hang out at depending who is there and who runs this place. Heck, if it is run by Winston, I'll be ok with it. Anyway, I digress, here it has a neat idea with a couple of interesting characters to follow, but its never-ending style and familiarity deprived of my experience of being a memorable one with this movie.
In 2028 Los Angeles, a violent riot has broken out of the city. A criminal hospital called Hotel Artemis hosts assassins and thieves, who is run by Nurse Jean Thomas (Jodie Foster), as Sherman (Sterling K. Brown) and his wounded brother arrive at the hotel as they scan their wrists with their membership chips implanted. Jean and her massive assistant, Everest (Dave Bautista), run things smoothly and operational as they can as things would not get out of control. Jean tend to both Sherman and his brother, and give them code names: Waikiki and Honolulu. Honolulu has suffered severe damage to his liver and has to be put on life support.
In other parts of the hotel, Acapulco (Charlie Day), an arms dealer is there because someone tried to rip his face off, and Nice (Sofia Boutella), who harmed herself to get close to a target. Jean receives a call from a man called Crosby Franklin (Zachary Quinto), who demands that she treats his father, the owner of the hotel. The power grid keeps going off and Everest as to keep pushing the power back on. But, things out of control as Honolulu unknowingly steals a pen that links to the vault that contains some valuable diamonds belonging to the Wolf King (Jeff Goldblum).
So, the setup to the whole thing is again a good idea and is cool in both the production design and the cinematography in which it display a sort of assassin film noir. But, to be honest, it has been done and it has been done a lot better in the John Wick franchise. What we have are uninteresting vendettas and plot foils that do not elevate or sustain any interest for me. All I see are decisions and cool stunt work as some sort of movie stunt show for me to process and ask "How they do it?" But, no, there are many too plot threads that are bit too convenient and it is a bit predictable to who will make it out alive because most of the characters are sort of one-note.
The three performances I deeply admired was by Foster, Brown and Bautista. I think Bautista stole the movie as he such a valuable presence and now has been getting better with his roles, smaller or not. Jodie Foster, back since her bad performance in Elysium, has a character that is quite more vulnerable than you think and her strength keeps her alive as she runs the hotel. I liked Sterling K. Brown in this but I wanted a bit more character development. The other actors were ok. I mean Boutella can still kill butt but now after seeing her in that type of role many times, I want her to play a normal character to display her acting more. Jeff Goldblum seemed out of place here. And, Quinto looked like a little brother to the Henry Cavill character from the future Mission: Impossible movie coming out this year.
All in all, this was a forgettable action crime thriller despite the good stunts. But, this movie is just stunts and style, a recycled and familiar product of action movies. I got bored and uninterested in that world. I would have been surprised that this type of plot would have been taken place of The Continental but I think it would have changed a lot. After watching this movie, I think it is best to check out after staying a night in the Hotel Artemis and spread the word that it was not worth it.
**
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