Sleepless: A Review
*Spoilers*
Sleepless is by no
means an original film. This is not entirely a problem when watching an action
movie since entertainment value supersedes originality, but with a vast number
of action films being produced, having an original storyline would add points
to a film of this genre. A remake of the French film Sleepless Night , this adds to the feeling that the viewer has seen
it all before. The ability to know what is happening before it happens is not
ideal when the movie needs to really capture the audience’s attention by
building tension.
However, this is not a bad film. While it does possess a
number of clichés and the entire crooked cop storyline can feel a bit rewarmed,
this is a solidly entertaining film. The problem is that for fans of action
films, they’ll have seen better done versions of every set piece. The chase
scenes have all been done before as have the gunfights in parking garages and
fistfights in kitchens. Not every film can show us a unique action sequence
like John Woo but if we have to see things we’ve seen before, it’s reasonable
to expect the standard to match. But, the issue with the film lies really in
execution of the familiar.
The storyline doesn’t help either. There are many attempted
twists to the story but they never really land. From the opening introduction
of Jennifer Bryant who is completely sure that something is rotten at the
police force followed by the immediate confirmation that government issued
ammunition was used at a crime scene to the torture scene that happens in the
middle of a baseball park for little reason other than to show the criminals
they’re dealing with are bad guys, there’s a lot that seems contrived.
Plot holes are an issue as well. The fact that the Novak,
the crime boss who wants the cocaine, meets with the crooked cop who happens to
have picked up the cocaine and works for him but doesn’t mention the fact that
he’s done so then leading Novak to continue to search for it is one of the main
issues. Having every single person in Las Vegas have a gun in their glove
compartment, while convenient for the film, isn’t particularly believable
either. Having Vincent run through the entire film while bleeding profusely
from a stab wound also brings to mind the question of if he should have bled
out by now.
By stating the film
is not a bad film, I mean that someone who is unfamiliar with action films and
tropes will miss the clichés. Action
film fans will have nothing special to speak about after the film is done and
even those who are not fans will have trouble remembering this film in the
future. Its decent entertainment but isn’t at the forefront of the genre. The
issue is not all lack of execution but it seems a lack of ambition. The film is
content to be a standard film of the form but has a talented enough cast and
decent source material to be better than it was.
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