'Hotel Artemis' Aims For B-Movie Thrills, But Earns A C-Plus
Criminals converge on a grubby hotel that doubles as an underground hospital in this pulpy, violent take on Los Angeles noir that's not as assured or as stylish as it needs to be.
In time and place of utter lawlessness, what matters more than money and survival? Family and friendship, declares Hotel Artemis, amid its antic nihilism. That's not exactly a fresh movie moral. But then freshness isn't the point of this intermittently clever action-comedy, which aspires to be a B-movie but may have aimed too high.
The feature-directing debut of screenwriter Drew Pearce, takes a Hollywood veteran's delight in depicting California's tomorrowland as a hellhole: One evil multinational has shut off the water, causing the locals to riot, which it turn spurs another corporate malevolence to send in Robocop-like troopers to smash the rioters.
