'Sleeping Dogs' movie review: Where Memory plays spoilsport…

Still from Sleeping Dogs

Film: Sleeping Dogs
Cast: Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Marton Csokas, Thomas M Wright, Harry Greenwood, Tommy Flanagan
Director: Adam Cooper
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 110 min

This film by debutante writer-director Adam Cooper and co-writer Bill Collage has been adapted from Eugen O. Chirovici's 2017 novel, "The Book of Mirrors". Though the conceit is similar to that of "Momento" the payoff is is pretty much on the lower side when compared to the classic. In terms of payoff this film is much closer to 2022's Liam Neeson starrer "Memory" and Micheal Keaton's more recent "Knox Goes Away."

Roy Freeman( Russell Crowe), a former homicide detective, also a recovering alcoholic, who lost his badge after a drunk driving accident has recently undergone an experimental brain procedure involving insertion of electrodes designed to help him regain some of the memories his Alzheimer's condition has robbed him of. His Doctor has recommended solving puzzles to keep his brain active so when he gets approached about an old case he worked on, where the convicted man is near to his execution date, he has little hesitation in taking it on.

He meets the advocate and then the death row inmate, and begins investigating the convicted man's claims. It's a ten-year-old case which is now cold. So he tracks down his old partner Jimmy Remis (Tommy Flanagan). The murder victim was Professor Wieder (Marton Csokas), and the suspects include his handyman Wayne Devereaux (Thomas M Wright), Wieder's research assistant Laura Baines (Karen Gillan), Laura's paramour Richard Finn (Harry Greenwood) who apparently is writing a book, and a couple of other characters thrown in to keep Roy busy and on the hunt.

Roy's flashbacks are like pieces of a puzzle being painstakingly put-together and its these flashbacks that eventually resolve the issue of the whodunit. There's enough of those flashes to keep the narrative flowing up to the very end.

It's an intricate web of deceit that plays out while Roy finds himself grasping at straws. The plotting may seem convoluted. It's a non-linear narrative which shapes the story telling here with several flashbacks and some contentions regarding stolen credits for a scientific manuscript. The movie starts off by establishing the central scenario and then goes into a flashback about Baines, Finn, and Weider. The series of pointless plot developments make the twist ending seem unearned. Russell Crowe is gravitating as Roy Freeman, with a piece-meal memory that is starting to come back to him. His charisma is all-pervading. Tommy Flanagan lends strong support as his old-partner who has secrets to keep and Karen Gillan does a ‘femme fatale' with relatable ease.

The tempo is pretty slow, the clues don't come fast enough. This is a thriller that feels cerebral. The slower pacing allows for random clues to catch on and the schema to become revelatory eventually.The background score and cinematography are workmanlike. The ending may seem contrived and deliberate but the treatment leading up to that is intriguing enough and steadily suspenseful to boot.