Sleepless is a remake of the critically-acclaimed French crime thriller
Sleepless Nights. It revolves around Las Vegas police detective Vincent
Downs (Jamie Foxx) who has to rescue his kidnapped son after he gets himself caught
in a high-stakes web of drug mobsters, corrupt cops, and internal affairs.
I haven’t seen its source
material, but I can tell that Sleepless
is probably not as good as that. It’s
basically a run-of-the-mill action crime drama, with a script packed with clichés
and bad writing. But I was actually reasonably
entertained by it. As a cheesy action
movie, it’s somewhat okay.
It’s probably because I went into
this movie knowing nothing about it.
Again, I haven’t seen Sleepless
Nights, nor had I been aware that it was a remake of a superior movie. Only knew that fact after Googling this movie
for this review. Hence, its moderately
surprising reveals kind of worked on me.
(SPOILERS in this paragraph, if you care.) The main character, Vincent Downs,
is somewhat layered. It starts off
looking like he’s a dirty cop – robbing cocaine from mobsters and then getting
himself assigned to the case in order to cover it up. Meanwhile, Internal Affairs detective Jennifer
Bryant (played by Michelle Monaghan) is investigating him. But later, it’s revealed that, unbeknownst to Bryant, Downs is
actually an Internal Affairs detective working undercover to take down the corrupt
cops inside the police department.
I’m surprised his real identity
is straightaway revealed in the written synopses for this movie (learned this when I Googled the
movie). I think it would have slightly benefited the film if that detail had been kept under
wraps during its promotion. It had a positive
effect on my watching experience when I had no idea of this.
In the end, Sleepless is a functional, fairly enjoyable-if-there’s-nothing-else-better-to-watch
action film. Beyond that, it’s an inconsequential
2017 movie.
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