![]() ![]() Getting into fights, escaping from the fights, then getting back into fights with the same person again. ![]() Its cops and gangsters are doomed to keep running to and fro, putting things in lockers and then taking those things back out of lockers. After a while, the setting begins to feel less like a casino and more like the Overlook Hotel in The Shining: an inescapable place where all natural laws are suspended. The only actor who really seems to be enjoying himself is David Harbour, who’s clearly aware that Sleepless is a bit of a pot-boiler.Įven at a focused 95 minutes, Sleepless starts to feel longer than it is – probably because so much time is spent following the same characters run round the same locations. McNairy, after a decent villain’s introduction, has a similarly thankless role to Monaghan his cries of “Where are my drugs?” are the film’s predictable refrain. Monaghan, who’s initially good value as a cop who’s just come off a bruising case-gone-wrong, just looks confused and annoyed by the middle of the movie – probably because the script has her standing in a casino lounge and waiting for something to do for far so long. Foxx, all sweat and increasingly grubby clothes, gives his cornered hero a distancing, bullish quality. The outlandishness wouldn’t necessarily matter if Sleepless had the self-awareness of, say, a decent Jason Statham film, but the movie’s largely played straight by its leads. The action escalates, as you might expect, but only in its outlandishness – what begins as a thriller set in what feels like the real Las Vegas soon detaches itself from reality so completely that your humble writer half expected a flying saucer to land in the final act. Sleepless is one of those thrillers that requires its characters to do illogical things in order to keep the story on track – vital items are grabbed and then lost again, villains are ruthlessly efficient and absurdly careless the next. The plot, meanwhile, conspires to undo all that tension within the space of a few minutes. ![]() The filmmaking which underpins Sleepless‘ inciting incidents – the initial stash grab, Vincent’s stab to the gut – is crisp and urgent, and suggests that we’re in for a terse, intense slab of action and intrigue. Some unconvincing blue-screen driving sequences aside, Sleepless looks great, thanks to cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr, the chap who made Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master look so lavish. Sleepless is directed by Switzerland’s Baran bo Odar, and the movie initially looks like a solid calling card for a filmmaker making his American debut (Odar’s previous film was the successful Who Am I from 2014). Everything seems set for a high-stakes showdown… until pretty much at the mid-point, everything clatters to the ground. There’s Vincent, who shows up in the hope of getting his son back the establishment’s dodgy owner, Rubino (Dermot Mulroney), a phalanx of gangsters led by the scrawny, crazed-looking Novak (Scoot McNairy), plus Bryant and her sarcastic partner, Doug (David Harbour, out of Stranger Things). The action takes place from dusk till dawn, mostly at a Vegas nightclub, hence the title, and there are some outrageously nonsensical plot absurdities, the most baffling being the moment when Vincent, in disguise and wearing a baseball cap, looks down in the club elevator so Bryant won’t spot him and then … looks up! So she spots him! And the chase begins! Because otherwise the plot wouldn’t move forward! A touch of humour would have helped here, instead of reflex batterings.All of this builds to the meat of the thriller: a lengthy game of cat-and-mouse in a Vegas casino. The bad guys take Vincent’s innocent teenage son hostage to get the drugs back and meanwhile, smart internal affairs officer Bryant (Monaghan) is on his trail. Foxx plays Vincent, a cop who steals a load of cocaine belonging to sinister druglord Rubino (Mulroney) who in turn owes this merchandise to the even nastier criminal Novak (McNairy). Jamie Foxx brings every atom of his star power, attempting to sell us this violent Vegas-set action-thriller – remade from a French film from 2011 called Nuit Blanche – and so does the supporting cast, including Gabrielle Union, Michelle Monaghan, Scoot McNairy and Dermot Mulroney. ![]()
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