The scuffles that ensue double as both a study in action-movie kinesis and a critique of Sin City decadence. Complicating matters further is another cop, Jennifer Bryant (Michelle Monaghan), who works for internal affairs and is convinced that Vincent is a dirty cop, though whether he’s really corrupt or simply deep undercover doesn’t remain a mystery for long.Įverything comes violently to a head at Rubino’s casino, where Vincent tries to bargain for Thomas’ survival, keep his ex-wife (Gabrielle Union) in the dark about their son’s whereabouts, and stay one step ahead of his pursuers on both sides of the law. Rubino serves as a slick, sinister middleman between Vincent and the crime boss’ son, Rob Novak (a freaky Scoot McNairy), the kind of unnerving psychopath who likes to grab guys by the testicles and sever his relatives’ tongues for fun. Johnson) by a wealthy casino owner, Stanley Rubino (Dermot Mulroney). When he and his partner, Sean Cass (T.I.), steal a drug stash from a powerful crime boss, a nasty chain of events is set in motion, starting with the kidnapping and ransom of Vincent’s 16-year-old son, Thomas (Octavius J. Foxx plays Vincent Downs, a Vegas detective deeply ensnared in the city’s criminal underworld. “Sleepless” presents a similarly reckless scenario of child endangerment, one that unfolds over the course of one long day and night. The movie is an English-language remake of a 2011 French thriller called “Sleepless Night,” but even if you haven’t seen that earlier picture (more honesty: I haven’t), you may detect smudges of similarly gritty, adjectivally titled shoot-’em-ups such as “Taken” and “Waist Deep,” each of which centers around a father going to extreme lengths to rescue his kid. This is less a criticism than an observation. A stylish surface goes only so far to disguise the fact that we’re being sold some pretty cut-rate goods. But all that glitters is not gold, and at a certain point, Odar’s intense atmospherics - amplified by the throbbing bass notes of Michael Kamm’s heavy, percussive score - start to feel like the work of a filmmaker on genre autopilot. It’s nice to see Foxx in what you might call a change-of-pace role, though given his too-long absence from movies since the ill-fated 2014 remake of “Annie,” the mere sight of him on a movie screen now qualifies as a change of pace.ĭirector Baran bo Odar orchestrates the smashing of bodies and automobiles with a moody, Michael Mann-esque panache, often cutting away to aerial establishing shots that make the Strip look like a shimmering nocturnal jewel box. Don’t get me wrong: “Sleepless” is far from a terrible movie, even if it is being dumped on the second weekend of January without advance media screenings (which is almost the theatrical equivalent of hiding it in a men’s lavatory).
OK, I missed the scene in which Foxx hides 25 kilos of cocaine in a men’s lavatory, but the exposition in this movie - even when yelled over the heavy drone of dance music and gunfire - is thick and repetitive enough to keep you from getting too lost. Fortunately, like the character who bumps his head and almost drowns in a women’s spa, I wasn’t unconscious for long. More honesty in criticism is one of my New Year’s resolutions, so here goes: “Sleepless,” a Las Vegas-set cop thriller starring Jamie Foxx, actually put me to sleep for a few minutes.
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