Sleepless Review
R: Strong Violence and Language Throughout
Open Road Films, Riverstone Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment
1 Hr and 35 Minutes
Cast: Jamie Foxx, T.I., Michelle Monaghan, Dermot Mulroney, David Harbour, Gabrielle Union, Scoot McNairy, Octavius J. Johnson
REVIEW: Hello and welcome to the first installment of Rendy V. January: Dawn of Bullshit. You know when studios dump all their crappy ass films in one month while Oscar bait films are released around the same time.
You know what I’m just going to this video from RedLetterMedia explain it all.
So let’s start with Sleepless.
Undercover Las Vegas police officer Vincent Downs (Jamie Foxx) finds himself caught in a high-stakes web of corrupt cops, internal affairs, and murderous gangsters. When a failed heist leads to the kidnapping of his teenage son, Downs must race against time during a wild and restless night to save him and bring the criminals to justice.
One of the first things you would probably interpret Sleepless as when you see the trailer is a black version of Taken. They both follow a similar premise and have a one-worded title. But the major difference with this film opposed to Taken is that this is an American remake of a 2011 French-Belgian-Luxembourgian action film titled Sleepless Night that was critically praised for its pacing and action sequences. This is the first of many Hollywood American remakes to come this year. Before we are given the American remake of Ghost in the Shell, we are given an American remake of an action film that will probably have us appreciate Ghost in the Shell before it’s released. It's like how Spike Lee tried to direct an American version of Oldboy, but done much much worse.
THE GOOD: Sleepless is marketed as a Jamie Foxx action vehicle also billing Michelle Monaghan alongside with him. Out of the entire cast, the most obscure yet best performance through the entire film was from David Harbour. Ever since Black Mass, I’ve begun to become fond of David Harbour. Whether it would be in Black Mass, The Equalizer, and most notably Stranger Things, he manages to breathe life into characters even for the little screen time he gets. Here, Harbour is the one that brings out the charisma, humor, and life the film desperately needed.
His character’s dynamic with Michelle Monaghan’s is by far more entertaining than the story centered on Foxx himself. They have good lines of dialogue as they riff off each other time to time. When the film is centered on them, it feels like a different/much better movie. The reason for this is mainly because these two characters aren’t even in the original film which explains a lot. You don’t really feel that these characters fit into this film until the stupidity of the screenplay kicks in with a twist.
What I do like about this film is that the majority of it is set in this casino where Foxx’s Vincent has to battle through other cops and mob boss henchmen in order to get his son back. It is one of those wild goose chase kind of action film that copies the original film's sequences whenever it decides to do so.
THE BAD: For a film titled Sleepless there are a lot of sleepwalking performances. With the exception of Harbour, nobody is really trying in this movie. This is Jamie Foxx’s first film since Annie back in 2014 and yet somehow all of his charisma was sucked out of his soul in that time span. It is not really his fault though in all honesty. It is really both the film’s screenwriting. This film is directed like any given action film in a January slate by a European director. This isn't even directed by a French director but a Swiss one named Baran bo Odar. The way this film was directed, it easily could've been a EuropaCorp production produced by Luc Besson and you wouldn't tell the difference.
It’s disappointing knowing the screenwriter of this is Andrea Berloff, the half of the screenwriting duo that wrote Straight Outta Compton (and was nominated for an Academy Award for it) which was a well-scripted film.
Because of the way Vincent was written, you don’t really get to like him. It is Vincent you don’t really like opposed to Foxx’s performance. With Vincent, you see him as both the worst father ever and the worst undercover cop ever. He constantly tells different characters [that he “don’t trust”] that he has been trying to crack this specific case for two years. He lies to nearly everyone he interacts with including his ex-wife, his son, the mob bosses that threaten him, etc. He makes excuses for nearly every action he does is one ill-conceived idea after another. Even when you’re supposed to feel for him you truly can’t. The majority of the film you see his ass constantly handed to him.
When you have him paired with T.I, you would think there would be an entertaining riff between the two, but alas no. They have no chemistry together at all. You would prefer them to have a new song collaboration than a team up in an action movie. You go in thinking they would have a dynamic similar to Will Smith and Martin Lawrence but leave knowing their dynamic being worse than Ice Cube and Kevin Hart.
If the movie wasn’t trying to be a remake and go for originality by centering it on Monaghan more who is a more interesting character with a more interesting backstory than Foxx, then you’ll have a better movie than the one that is presented to you. A lot of talent is wasted in this. The film features Gabrielle Union [whose character also nonexistent in the original movie] on the phone with Vincent either patiently questioning where her son is or cursing him out questioning where her son is.
Whatever good intentions I had for this film quickly faded away for its true colors begin to show by the end. It’s just a run of the mill action film with the true intention to franchise itself. Yeah, the movie sets itself up for a sequel that it doesn’t either earn or deserve. With something like Taken or Die Hard or even John Wick, you had an original concept with enough action, story, and character to keep audiences entertained even when it had an open-ended conclusion that can stand on its own. We got sequels to all of those films because the first film stood on its own as both great action flicks and overall good movies. This has the nerve. This had the audacity to set itself up a sequel while being a bad remake, a bad action flick, and overall a pretty dull movie. The original film has numerous action sequences that look a lot of fun. This only has four. Albeit they are somewhat well choreographed they are nonetheless unmemorable.
LAST STATEMENT: Hampered with unnecessary add-on characters that are more interesting than the unlikable central character, Sleepless is a dumb and dull action remake that vaguely resembles its original film.
Rating: 1/5 | 27%
Super Scene: Jennifer’s interaction with Stanley after he gets his ass kicked by Vincent.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| David Harbour | Intentions for future sequels |
| Michelle Monaghan | Add-on unnecessary characters |
| Brief resemblance to original film with action | Jamie Foxx's Absent Charisma |
| Dynamic Between Monaghan and Harbour | Waste of Gabrielle Union |
| Character of Jennifer | Dynamic Between Foxx and T.I |
| Character of Vincent |
