Let’s just address the elephant in the room upfront: Hotel Artemis, in both premise and style, bears more than a passing resemblance to the Continental sequences from the John Wick movies. From its story centered around a secret, well-disciplined hideaway for all manner of degenerate criminals, to the endless wild machinations found within, writer-director Drew Pearce’s feature debut has its work cut out for it when it comes to distinguishing itself.
But if the bloody action flick’s new red-band trailer is any indication, Pearce might be on to something. After all, he’s assembled quite the murderer’s row (sorry) of performers, headlined by Jodie Foster as the unorthodox manager and keeper of the Artemis, a clandestine hospital for career criminals. Just a few of the faces that look to darken her doorstep include Sterling K. Brown, Charlie Day, Sofia Boutella, Dave Bautista, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, and Jeff Goldblum as “the Wolf King of Los Angeles.”
Set against a dystopian, riot-plagued version of the West Coast, Hotel Artemis will blast violently into theaters on June 8th, hopefully serving as exactly the right kind of alternative summer action fare. If nothing else, for a movie that seems to spend most of its runtime watching people get shot and/or stabbed, it looks like a good bit of fun.
