by Shane Conto, Staff Writer
Are you enjoying this current phase of Russell Crowe’s career? We are not seeing the Academy Award-winning actor taking on the prestige roles he used to. For now, we get to see Crowe dabble in a wide variety of genre flicks. He was a falsely fun and secretly malicious Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder; Crowe propped up a silly and unscary The Pope’s Exorcist where he killed it (while nothing else did); and now we have Sleeping Dogs, an amnesia-filled crime thriller.
Does Crowe continue to flex his acting muscles in Sleeping Dogs? There are certainly plenty of layers to his character, Roy Freeman. Crowe gets to play around with the idea that he has a traumatic brain injury, and has lost his memory. There is a lot of confusion and struggling to piece things together, and Crowe authentically makes it seem effortless. But as the story’s layers are peeled back, and his past starts to come into light, we get to see a whole new side to Freeman. Crowe has such great range that he sells both of the drastically different versions of his character.
With the nature of such a mysterious narrative, how does director Adam Cooper navigate the twists and turns of this story? It is certainly a struggle to balance two things. One, does everything make sense in the end after the layers are peeled back? Two, does the truth appropriately evade the audience until the right time for full impact? Cooper’s film does one much better than the other. Its shocks feel genuine, and there are surprising revelations and truths, but the mystery is clunky and muddled until its final moments. This is a bumpy road to a big surprise, which gives the film an uneven feel.
But does Cooper create the correct atmosphere to sell this thriller? There is a drab look to the film that isn’t the most inviting. Gritty is good, and it can be aesthetically pleasing. There are editing choices and visual elements that play into the memory loss aspect of the narrative. Do they work? This might be a polarizing aspect, as they can both be awkward, yet they stand out in a visual experience that is overall lacking. There is some tension along the way, but this film succeeds more in its shock than tension.
Is Sleeping Dogs a must-see thriller at the beginning of the spring movie season? Not completely — there is a lot of potential left on the table. Karen Gillan feels a bit wasted. There is an exciting prospect of a Crowe and Tommy Flanagan reunion after their work together on Gladiator, and it is serviceable. You even have underrated character actor, Marton Csokas, who chews it up in his flashback sequences. It doesn’t always fully deliver, but if you want a crazy and twisted ride with some shocking moments, Sleeping Dogs at least brings that.
Rating: It Was Just Okay
Sleeping Dogs is currently playing in theaters
You can read more from Shane Conto, and follow him on Instagram, and Letterboxd