WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Hotel Artemis, in theaters now.
Drew Pearce is mostly known for his work as a writer on Iron Man 3 and Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation, and as someone who lays out intricate plots that perhaps go a bit deeper than your typical blockbuster. However, Hotel Artemis, his feature directorial debut, is a more straightforward and relatively simple concept, focusing on a secret hospital for criminals that can afford its service.
However, there are rules for the facility's users, which in the film creates a problems for those seeking medical care, and the antagonists, namely the Wolf King (Jeff Goldblum), who's coming to claim what's rightfully his. With a star-studded cast, including Jodie Foster as the administrator of the hotel, Nurse Thomas, Pearce takes fans on an action-filled ride that pits members of the hotel against each other, and leaves the the building on the brink of collapse.
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Once the dust clears, however, the hotel survives this wild and destructive night, and Pearce achieves his objective of blurring the lines between hero and villain.
The plot deals with the consequences of two brothers, Waikiki (Sterling K. Brown) and Honolulu (Brian Tyree Henry), who botch a bank robbery in Los Angeles, 2028. As the city's torn asunder by people rioting for water, the two have no choice but to seek care at the Artemis. However, in the midst of the robbery, Waikiki steals a pen containing diamonds, which belong to none other than the Wolf King, who just so happens to own the Artemis.
As the Wolf King descends on the hotel, Waikiki is forced to ally himself with the assassin Nice (Sofia Boutella), while fellow criminals such as Acapulco (Charlie Day) and Buke (Kenneth Choi) make life difficult for everyone inside. In the movie's climax, the Wolf King, who was initially allowed entry by the Nurse, reveals he was the one who drove her into a depression and boxed her into this life of criminal care, by killing her drug-addicted son years earlier. The Nurse, herself struggling after breaking the rules and offering medical care to a cop, Morgan (Jenny Slate), is riled to the point she wants to kill the Wolf King, only for Nice to arrive and carry out the task herself.
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It turns out that Nice's mission was to assassinate the Wolf King, which is why she befriended Waikiki and his brother. Sadly, her actions, which included blowing the hotel's generator, kills Honolulu, who was on life support. Ironically, it's that mistake that allows Waikiki and the Nurse a chance to escape the army of the Wolf King.
Nice, seemingly trying to make amends for her error, and the brutish orderly known as Everest (Dave Bautista), a loyal son-like figure to the Nurse, stay behind to fend off the Wolf King's goons, in order to buy the Nurse and Waikiki time to flee. In the melee, Waikiki encounters the Wolf King's son, Franklin (Zachary Quinto), and kills him, thus ending the family's criminal dynasty, and seemingly settling their feud once and for all.
Sadly, Waikiki is severely injured in the fight, but can't go back to the Artemis in its present state of chaos. Upon successfully escaping, however, the duo ends up parting ways instead of riding off into the sunset together. Nurse Thomas wants to create a better Los Angeles and atone for her own past, while Waikiki has no choice but to head out for help elsewhere.
The Nurse is now free to make the Artemis the place she always wanted, where everyone can get medical assistance. Her hopes come to life as she returns to find Everest alive and well, unlike Nice, whose fate is left a mystery. That said, with the night of bloodshed finally over, and as we see the lights of the Artemis turned back on, it's clear they're open for business once more.
In theaters now, director Drew Pearce’s Hotel Artemis stars Sterling K. Brown, Jodie Foster, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day and Dave Bautista.