Reviews
Followers
Following
Comments
Likes
It’s a lost art, the ensemble action movie, but only a few directors were ever able to actually pull it off anyway. Guy Ritchie might have descended from Tarantino, but distinguished himself by guiding the massive, comically disparate casts of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch through sprawling plots and satisfying shoot-outs. Con Air emerged as a fine successor in the late ’90s, while Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire set the template for modern filmmakers. But other efforts to coalesce colorful ensembles into multi-pronged action set pieces — Joe Carnahan’s Smokin’ Aces, for example, or even Bruce Willis’ misbegotten Hudson Hawk — more often than not fell into incoherence. Drew Pearce‘s Hotel Artemis, the latest entry into this tiny action subgenre, falls victim to much of what ails any ensemble picture — rushed plotting, forced coincidence, indulgence — but still manages to make a big impression. Credit Pearce’s clear-eyed vision of the film’s dystopian near-future, as well as the infectious strain of zeal his top-notch cast brings to the writer/director’s vibrant slate of characters. Hotel Artemis takes place almost entirely in its namesake, a towering, crumbling structure in downtown L.A. where a woman known as The Nurse (Jodie Foster) runs a members-only hospital for thugs and criminals. Outside, helicopters are crashing and buildings are burning as the “most violent riot in LA history” inches towards the Artemis, which resides near the offices of the conglomerate responsible for the city’s lack of clean drinking water. Things are more or less secure inside Hotel Artemis, which receives a few new patients in Sherman (Sterling K. Brown) and his brother Lev (Brian Tyree Henry), who are both bleeding — Lev considerably more so — after a bank heist gone bad. Fellow patients include a smoldering French assassin (Sofia Boutella), a cocky, cruel arms dealer (Charlie Day), and The Nurse’s hulking assistant Everest (Dave Bautista), who serves as both orderly and bodyguard. Also on the way is The Wolf King (Jeff Goldblum), the overlord of the LA underworld (and the primary investor in Hotel Artemis). His arrival serves as a motivating agent for several of the characters, some of whom are aching to face The Wolf King while others are keen to stay out of his sight. It’s in the anxious act leading up to the honcho’s arrival that the film is at its best, as it’s here we watch our cast of pulpy, throwback archetypes — The Good-Hearted Thief, the Femme Fatale, the Wildcard (played, appropriately, by Day) — bounce off each other. Despite the approaching riot, Pearce allows these early conversations to breathe, with old bonds and new feuds emerging through clever, fiery conversations and subtle gestures. Brown, who’s proven he can navigate schmaltz and comedy just as well as intrigue and grit, again demonstrates his malleability, stepping comfortably into the role of both antihero and seducer. He and Boutella share an electric chemistry, yet he carries a quiet threat of menace when faced with the likes of Day’s scumbag or Bautista’s enforcer.
Do you find this abusive/annoying? Please comment...
Please Enter Email You Want to Mapped To This Account
Please Select Country You Want to Mapped To This Account
Product added to cart successfully
Please Enter Referral Code
Please Select Country You Want to Mapped To This Account
Please Enter Email You Want to Mapped To This Account
We want you to know that your valuable feedback is highly appreciated. You can write to us at info@flatterd.com with your suggestions or concerns and we shall try to get back to you at the earliest - Thanks !!!
Please verify your mobile number to complete registration
We have sent you a unique code on your mobile number.Please enter it below to complete verification