With her deadpan face and drawling voice, all that is missing from Internal Affairs officer Jennifer Bryant’s (Michelle Monaghan) impersonation of a Western sheriff is a matchstick between her masticators. “This city is crawling with dirty cops,” she snarls, after government-issued bullets are found at the scene of a crime. The trigger-pullers, LVPD officer Vincent Downs (Jamie Foxx) and his corrupt partner Sean Cass (rapper-turned actor T.I.) whose intervention in a drug deal between casino owner Stanley Rubino (Dermot Mulroney) and mobster Rob Novak (Scoot McNairy) rewards them with several million pounds worth of cocaine.

But as the old saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold and the kidnapping of Vincent’s innocent son Thomas (Octavius J. Johnson) becomes the drug dealers’ tit for their stolen booty’s tat. With three hours to return the goods, Vincent acquiesces. But his rescue mission is thrown into disarray when Sheriff Bryant and her colleague Doug Dennison (David Harbour) get wind of the handover. Bullets fly, punches land and car tyres screech in a frenetic chase, which leaves the audience guessing: who is the cat and who is the mouse?

Based on the French thriller Nuit Blanche (Sleepless Night), director Baran bo Odar and screenwriter Andrea Berloff (Blood Father, Straight Outta Compton) keep the pace snappy. As does composer Michael Kamm who along with cinematographer Mihai Mălaimare Jr. (A Walk Among The Tombstones, The Master) worked on two of the director’s previous three films including the hugely popular German thriller Who Am I: No System Is Safe. And Foxx, Mulroney and McNairy deliver their alpha male lines with gusto.

But there is nothing particularly memorable or original about Sleepless. The characters are two-dimensional, humour is sadly lacking and despite the speedy passage of time it teeters dangerously close to Sheriff Bryant’s description of the original crime scene: “Reservoir Dogs shit!”

Video courtesy of: Open Road Films

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Peter Callaghan
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