Sleeping Dogs movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Sleeping Dogs

This crime thriller is now playing in theaters, as well as on Vudu.

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 50 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B

IN A NUTSHELL:

This is one of those movies that audiences like and film critics hate. Already, it has earned a Rotten Tomatoes score from fans of 83%, while critics gave it an embarrassingly low score of 36%.

The story is about an ex-homicide detective with Alzheimer’s who is compelled to solve a brutal murder, only to uncover chilling secrets from his forgotten past.

This is Adam Cooper’s directorial debut. He also co-wrote the script with Bill Collage and E.O. Chirovici.

THINGS I LIKED:

Academy Award winner Russell Crowe does an excellent job in this film noir crime mystery, elevating the content.
It’s nice to see Karen Gillan in a role as a “normal” person without all of her Guardians of the Galaxy makeup covering her beautiful face. We get to hear her speak French and Japanese for a brief moment to show us how smart her character also is.
Tommy Flanagan always plays interesting characters who either look or are guilty of something.
Other cast members who do a great job include Marton Csokas, Thomas Wright, Harry Greenwood, Pacharo Mzembe, and Jasper Bagg.
The first few minutes paint a very grim picture of the protagonist’s life with dementia.
The musical score definitely sounds like it came straight out of a film noir.
The title is really great because it alludes to the picture in the puzzle Russell Crowe’s character is working on to stimulate his mind, but it especially warns of drumming up the past as stated in the quote, “Let sleeping dogs lie” by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Some people might be annoyed by the ambiguous ending, but I really liked it.
The movie poster is cool and visually demonstrates how fractured memories are when experiencing Alzheimer’s.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

It’s extremely slow-moving.
Several scenes could have been cut to tighten up the time and story.
There is a twist in the end, but you see it coming a mile away.
There are too many characters and red herrings to keep track of.
In case you’re wondering, this movie is not related to the 1977 movie or the video game of the same name.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Kids will be bored. The movie’s content is also not appropriate for children at all.
The first word we hear is an F-bomb. Plenty more come later, as well as other profanity.
We see gruesome pictures of a murder over and over again.
People die bloody deaths.
Clothes are on but we see several awkward sex scenes with sound effects.