X
In Theaters Now
- 2024
- R
- The Avenue Entertainment
- 1 h 50 m
- 2024
- R
- The Avenue Entertainment
- 1 h 50 m
Summary An ex-homicide detective (Russell Crowe) with memory loss is forced to solve a brutal murder, only to uncover chilling secrets from his forgotten past.
Written By: E.O. Chirovici
In Theaters Now
- 2024
- R
- The Avenue Entertainment
- 1 h 50 m
- 2024
- R
- The Avenue Entertainment
- 1 h 50 m
Sleeping Dogs
43
5.5
Where to Watch
Summary An ex-homicide detective (Russell Crowe) with memory loss is forced to solve a brutal murder, only to uncover chilling secrets from his forgotten past.
Written By: E.O. Chirovici
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
43
11% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
44% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
43
11% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
44% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Sleeping Dogs has pacing problems, and the direction is competent but not particularly stylish. What holds the film together, and what holds our attention to the very end, is the powerful performance by Russell Crowe as a man haunted by demons he can’t quite remember.
Sleeping Dogs, starring Russell Crowe as a retired cop with Alzheimer’s disease, is a half-rusted scrap heap of a detective mystery. It’s patchy, it’s badly lit, it’s glum, it’s overloaded with suspects, and it’s almost proud of its contrivances. Yet in its logy, booby-trapped way, it keeps you watching.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 User Ratings
5.5
47% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
33% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
20% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 User Ratings
5.5
47% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
33% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
20% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Crowe is quite capable of being compelling even when doing banal stuff—the highlight here is a variation on the “falling off the wagon” trope, as he captures the sheer delight of a guy who has literally forgotten how much he loves whiskey. The end point, like the movie’s, feels inevitable, but the journey there contains small joys.
While a few of the actors give decent performances, it is not enough to overcome the stilted writing.
Everyone in almost every scene either looks lost or annoyed, never genuine. Except for Crowe, who grumbles his way through another film with deceptive ease, finding occasions to ground even a miserable film like this one.
The result is a clunky, overwrought thriller which leans heavily on cliche.
Crowe himself, as usual, is the best thing in the film, once again upgrading less than optimal material with his indelible screen presence.
IN A NUTSHELL:
This is one of those movies that audiences like and film critics hate. Already, it has earned a Rotten Tomatoes score from fans of 83%, while critics gave it an embarrassingly low score of 36%.
The story is about an ex-homicide detective with Alzheimer’s who is compelled to solve a brutal murder, only to uncover chilling secrets from his forgotten past.
This is Adam Cooper’s directorial debut. He also co-wrote the script with Bill Collage and E.O. Chirovici.
THINGS I LIKED:
Academy Award winner Russell Crowe does an excellent job in this film noir crime mystery, elevating the content.
It’s nice to see Karen Gillan in a role as a “normal” person without all of her Guardians of the Galaxy makeup covering her beautiful face. We get to hear her speak French and Japanese for a brief moment to show us how smart her character also is.
Tommy Flanagan always plays interesting characters who either look or are guilty of something.
Other cast members who do a great job include Marton Csokas, Thomas Wright, Harry Greenwood, Pacharo Mzembe, and Jasper Bagg.
The first few minutes paint a very grim picture of the protagonist’s life with dementia.
The musical score definitely sounds like it came straight out of a film noir.
The title is really great because it alludes to the picture in the puzzle Russell Crowe’s character is working on to stimulate his mind, but it especially warns of drumming up the past as stated in the quote, “Let sleeping dogs lie” by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Some people might be annoyed by the ambiguous ending, but I really liked it.
The movie poster is cool and visually demonstrates how fractured memories are when experiencing Alzheimer’s.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
It’s extremely slow-moving.
Several scenes could have been cut to tighten up the time and story.
There is a twist in the end, but you see it coming a mile away.
There are too many characters and red herrings to keep track of.
In case you’re wondering, this movie is not related to the 1977 movie or the video game of the same name.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
Kids will be bored. The movie’s content is also not appropriate for children at all.
The first word we hear is an F-bomb. Plenty more come later, as well as other profanity.
We see gruesome pictures of a murder over and over again.
People die bloody deaths.
Clothes are on but we see several awkward sex scenes with sound effects.
Report
(Mauro Lanari)
At the end of the 20th century, cinema was invaded by films about identitarian problematic. "The Matrix", "Fight Club", "Memento", "Spider", Soderbergh from "Bubble" to "The Informant!" didn't have much new to say about the so-called philosophy of the subject, which was substantially stuck at Locke's British empiricism: the self would be a narrative process of mnemonic (re)construction. What if memories deceive us as psychopathology, psychiatry, neuropsychology, neurology teach? Disciplines that provided screenwriters with material to represent the old theme in innovative audiovisual ways. However, with the Jason Bourne saga we have reached a point of no return: when the detective movie or the action thriller intersects the dementia/amnesia movie, we now fear self-deceptivity as a predictable epilogue. This directorial debut is no exception and does not benefit the excellent performance of an aged Crowe.
Report
The Crowe man delivers an adequate performance, but Sleeping Dogs put THIS old dog to sleep!
Report
Production Company
Gramercy Park Media,
Nickel City Pictures,
Gala Media Capital,
JaiD7 Pictures,
Screen Australia,
Film Victoria,
G2 Dispatch,
Highland Film Group (HFG)
Release Date Mar 22, 2024
Duration 1 h 50 m
Rating R
