Sleeping Dogs (2024) | Film Review

“Where the hell are my readers?!”

Personally, I probably ask myself that ten times a day. In Sleeping Dogs, directed by Adam Cooper and written by Cooper and Bill Collage, ex-cop Roy Freeman’s reading glasses are the least of his problems.

Roy, played by the steadfast Russell Crowe, is called upon to review a case he investigated years ago as a homicide detective. The defendant’s execution date is approaching fast and they want his help to find anything with the case that could either help delay or stay the execution. The problem is, Roy doesn’t remember the case. He also doesn’t remember his address, how to cook, or even his mother’s name.

Crowe’s path to discovery crosses a number of people of questionable character and involvement including Karen Gillan’s uber-ambitious Laura Baines; the genius professor Joseph Wieder played by Marton Csókás; and Thomas M. Wright as the skulking assistant. The intensely-expressive Tommy Flanagan rounds out the stellar ensemble cast as Jimmy Remis, the former partner of Roy Freeman.

The thematic correlation between shards of glass and broken memories runs throughout Dogs. Cooper’s choice to highlight a character by showing their name written on a piece of duct tape (Freeman’s system of remembering in his home) keeps the viewer in step with Freeman as he – or “we” – explores every lead provided.

At times, Cooper’s Sleeping Dogs can feel a bit disjointed. Hey, it’s a guy with memory problems piecing together a murder he has already investigated once while getting minimal assistance, so the path isn’t exactly linear. Thankfully, Russell Crowe carries the film anytime we, the audience, begin to struggle.

Throughout the first half of the film, many paths are set up. I actually enjoyed this because it has the viewer wondering how all of these people are connected, what’s really going on, and who is really helping him. You can literally see a dozen different plot directions this film could make, and honestly, any of them would work.

However, Sleeping Dogs does verge on spending more time setting up than settling on a direction, and this makes the pace suffer slightly. With maybe five minutes worth of edits, this could be a very taut thriller.

Sleeping Dogs is a welcome anti-hero to the major studio franchises that dominate the theaters and a welcome “change of pace” film when you want to see something a little different. Similar to a nice wine, Sleeping Dogs gives off notes of such thrillers as Memento and Shattered, while inviting you to keep sipping until you reach the end.

Now, where did I leave those glasses?