Movie Reviews
One, the story. We have here a film noir as we don�t have the opportunity to see very often at all. That�s a sad fact, really, considering the noir genre includes some of the greatest films ever made. Noir is almost clich� now. So when a filmmaker can mold it into something new, something fresh, something original, you too must relish it.
Writer Trevor Preston�s script is articulate and intelligent. It refuses to flash our eyes with long action scenes and uses situational dialogue in its stead. Director Mike Hodges creates a mood that is dark and near-sulking. But he keeps our attention with unusually tasteful direction. Hodges has made one of the best crime films of the year.
Two, the acting. Clive Owen, who had his �King Arthur� open the very same weekend, is quite simply an actor who has the range of a grand piano. If nothing else, �I�ll Sleep...� is worth seeing to watch Owen because he alone could easily carry the picture. Luckily, though, it is not in need of being mounted on the back of one man�s efforts. Charlotte Rampling is not featured very long. However, she has one of the most memorable characters of the film.
Malcolm McDowell is dangerously close to his �a little of the old in-out, in-out� persona that Stanley Kubrick plagued him with. McDowell�s performance is subtle, brief, and brutal simultaneously � a remarkable position to take considering what a vile character he has. Understand that there is no �good-guy, bad-guy� plot that unfolds here. Hodges is smart enough to let his actors be the characters they truly are, meaning there is no good and bad. It�s all bad and worse.
I�m choosing not to elaborate on the plot much because I don�t want to give away anything more than what the MPAA gives away with its rating. What I will tell you is that Clive Owen plays Will Graham, a man living out of his van, and a man who looks as menacing as Nurse Ratchet. He used to be in the mafia, so he knows how to get done what needs to be done. When a horrible event takes place back home, he travels to the epicenter of the crime committed and roots out the culprit. A crime of passion paid back with a crime of passion. Make no doubt about it: this is a film about sweet, bitter revenge. *** �