Hotel Artemis Somer Valley FM Film Review

Hi there, Ben Pinsent here with another Somer Valley FM FIlm Review. This week we check in to the most exclusive hotel in Los Angeles the infamous Hotel Artemis.

In 2028 during riots caused by the privatisation of water, Sherman and Lev are robbing a bank. Lev is severely injured when the job inevitably goes wrong. Thankfully there is a hospital nearby, one that looks like a hotel and it only treats criminals. Even though the hospital has rules, these habitual rule breakers are in the mode to disobey.

Hotel Artemis is a hyperviolent future noir. It focuses on professional criminals in their most vulnerable positions and the strange honour that governs their world. As such the film has some great action set pieces centred around those same criminals. The film has a story that twists and turns that take them further down the path of their destruction. It is undoubtedly stylish leaning heavily into the Rocco hotel decore mixed with the used future tech. However, it can get quite dark and muddled at points, the luxurious interior patterns cluttering the frame.  But is there any more to Hotel Artemis than just blood and paint?

Unfortunately not. There is a lot in this film; there is a riot, a secret criminal hospital, a crime boss, a hit job, a bank robbery gone wrong, a nurse with a dead son and agoraphobia, fraternal issues. That and the relatively short 94 minute run time leave Hotel Artemis unfinished and rushed. There are some great pieces of characters backstories that are only hinted at or slowly revealed to great effect.  However due to the multiple plot threads, it leaves each feeling unsatisfying. You could see this as a great TV, and with more significant time to explore the setting and characters, it could have been an excellent rival to shows like Westworld. As it is, however, Hotel Artemis feels like several huge chunks are missing.

Hotel Artemis despite its style and premise falls apart under inspection. Hotel Artemis is full of characters and plot threads that it references but does little to develop. It overbooks itself and with a shoddy construction, if I were a Hotel inspector, I would have it condemned for structural issues.

Thanks for reading this latest Somer Valley FM Film Review, you can listen to the radio broadcast here on the Somer Valley FM website, or if you want to read a full review and are looking for blasts from the Somer Valley FM Past head on over to my blog: Corrupted Record