Hotel Artemis **** (Cert 15, 94mins)
JODIE Foster makes an impressive and rather surprising comeback in this pulpy sci-fi thriller.
The two-time Oscar winner, who hasn’t appeared in a film since 2012, plays The Nurse, the troubled manager and on-site doctor at Hotel Artemis, a secret members-only hotel for career criminals.
It is The Nurse’s medical skill that makes the Los Angeles hotel popular.
Because while the Artemis looks like a stylish, 1920s-themed boutique hotel, it functions as a high-tech clinic.
With help from her partner Everest (Dave Bautista), The Nurse specialises in patching up gunshot wounds that would attract unwanted attention in an accident and emergency department.
Everest doubles up as orderly and bouncer at the hotel. His remit is simple. If your name’s not down, you’re bleeding to death on the doorstep. And business is booming.
In 2028, the rich are richer, the poor are poorer and a crimewave is turning into a city-wide riot. We check in on an especially busy night.
The Nurse and Everest have a full roster of guests, all using the names of the suites they are staying in.
Waikiki (Sterling K Brown) is an armed robber who turns up with his seriously wounded brother Honolulu (Brian Tyree Henry) after a bank robbery that went sideways.
Sofia Boutella plays Nice (named after the French city, not her personality), an assassin who deliberately hurt herself to get into the hotel.
Then two figures from The Nurse’s past throw spanners in the works.
A wounded policewoman (Jenny Slate), who The Nurse knew as a child, turns up and forces her to reappraise the hotel’s strict “no cops” policy.
The other is crime lord The Wolf King (Jeff Goldblum) who has been seriously injured in an assassination attempt.
As he is the hotel’s main backer his hot-headed son (Zachary Quinto) expects a room to be waiting, negating the “first come, first treated” rule.
Although a couple of plot holes open up in the action-packed finale, Foster is brilliant throughout, bringing soul, determination and dark humour to the role.
A prayer before dawn **** (Cert 18, 114mins)
PEAKY Blinder Joe Cole pulls no punches with a ferocious turn in this bruisingly authentic adaptation of the bestselling memoir by Billy Moore, the Liverpool junkie-turned-boxer who spent three years in Thailand’s infamous Klong Prem prison.
The first half of the film shows meth-addled Billy’s struggle to survive the gang culture of the notorious “Bangkok Hilton”, enduring some violent encounters with the shirtless and heavily tattooed inmates, mostly played by real ex-convicts.
As the gangs force Billy to deal and use heroin, he finds an outlet for his frustration through Thai kick-boxing.
Cole is striking in the fight sequences but it is his performance outside the ring that confirms his status as a genuine acting heavyweight.
Since Billy is the architect of his own downfall, he could have been an impossible hero to root for but Cole makes us feel every punch.
Escape Plan 2 * (Cert 15, 96mins)
The dreadful follow-up to Sylvester Stallone’s and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s prison break film looks like a cynical attempt to grab a few dollars in Asia.
Chinese star Xiaoming Huang takes centre stage as Sly’s character’s star pupil, incarcerated in a shaky, hi-tech prison that would have looked naff in 1980s BBC sci-fi.
Spitfire *** (Cert PG, 97mins)
THIS engrossing documentary uses stunning aerial photography and interviews with war heroes to provide an exhaustive history of the iconic fighter plane. Charles Dance narrates.