Review | Hotel Mumbai film review: 2008 terrorist attacks recreated in intense true-life thriller
- The film has a documentary like realism, and the action has a breathless intensity
- The terrorists are portrayed as emotionless killers and the victims are larger than life
4/5 stars
Following on from acclaimed true-life thrillers such as United 93 and Argo, Hotel Mumbai recreates the horrific 2008 terror attacks in the Indian city, that claimed 174 lives and wounded 300 others.
Told from the perspective of the staff and guests of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which became a focal point for the violence, first-time director Anthony Maras brings a breathless intensity and documentary like realism to the film, while remaining respectful to those affected by the tragedy.
The increasingly ubiquitous Armie Hammer adds some Hollywood A-list glamour to this Australian-Indian co-production, as David, the American husband of a British-Iranian heiress (Nazanin Boniadi), staying at the hotel with their baby son and Australian nanny (Tilda Cobham-Hervey).
Meanwhile, Dev Patel plays Arjun, a waiter at one of the hotel’s many prestigious restaurants, who, together with head chef Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and many of their colleagues, risked their own lives to protect guests from the rampaging gunmen.
We learn little about the individual terrorists, beyond being young Pakistani members of the Islamist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba, behold to an unseen mastermind known only as “the Bull”. Martyrs committed to a murderous cause, we first see them arrive on the beach in small inflatable dinghies, before opening fire at Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station.