Russell Crowe can’t solve this formulaic mystery.
Last week, I reviewed “Knox Goes Away,” a small-time thriller with Michael Keaton as a contact killer suffering from dementia. Even though I didn’t go for the Al Pacino character, I liked that film mostly for Keaton’s performance and direction.
This week, we now have “Sleeping Dogs” with Russell Crowe as a former detective suffering from Alzheimer’s. So he has to leave notes in his house, almost like Guy Pearce’s Leonard in “Memento.” No tattoos, just a shaved head with two scars, and the right treatment.
Unfortunately, it’s flatter than the other movie with its confusing plot elements and lack of character development. Crowe is the one who works with his age and dialogue, but he can’t solve the mystery on how to make such a formulaic screenplay into a fresh movie. This is more of a C movie than a B movie.
The detective’s name is Roy Freeman, and the case of the film regards a murdered college professor Dr. Joseph Wieder (Martin Csókás), and the young man wrongfully accused and sentenced to death. His name is Isaac Samuel (Pacharo Mzembe), and he was forced to write a confession about the murder, as he was in shock and at the scene of the crime.
The story also regards a student and would-be novelist named Richard Finn (Harry Greenwood, son of Hugo Weaving), whose father dies of a heart attack and whose mother can’t afford his tuition. He also begins a relationship with another student-more gifted than him-Laura Baines (Karen Gillan), both of whom decide to turn to the professor for help. It ends, however, with her having an affair with Wieder, much to the young man’s anger.
Another possible suspect could be Laura, who tells Roy that she and Richard were never in love. “People make things up all the time. Lie to protect themselves.,” she says. And she also had book conflicts with Wieder.
Next is Wayne Devereaux (Thomas M. Wright), a war vet whom the doctor helped get his life on track.
Or maybe it could be his own partner, who keeps saying Samuel is guilty of the murder.
Any one of these people could suspects with the right motives, and a lot of them I didn’t seem to care about. They’re confusing and derivative of what could have been a challenging script.
Based on E.O. Chiroivici’s novel “The Book of Mirrors,” “Sleeping Dogs” has Crowe adjusting to the character delicately and acknowledging his illness, which seems to be getting better based on his medication. He tries to overcome the screenplay (co-written by Bill Collage) and direction by Adam Cooper, but the movie doesn’t justify the actor’s skills. It has too many formulas, half of them are predictable and half of them are interesting.
Among the supporting cast, Gillan seems to be channeling too hard on the noir genre, while Greenwood seems too bland to be as angry as his character is at his date’s affair. But Csókás is convincing and charming as the murdered professor.
Debating on “Knox Goes Away” and “Sleeping Dogs,” both feature leading legends on the verge of losing their memories, I prefer the former over the latter. “Knox Goes Away” is actually more interesting than “Sleeping Dogs.” That’s just my opinion. No mystery to solve here.
