American Adam Cooper has always wanted to be a feature film director but over the past two decades, Hollywood has tapped into his skills as a screenwriter.  His credits include Assassin’s Creed, Allegiant, and Exodus: Gods and Kings.  Cooper’s patient wait comes to and end with Sleeping Dogs which marks his directorial debut and is based on the novel “The Book of Mirrors” from Romanian author E.O. Chirovici.

Following the mould created by films including Memento and The Bourne Identity, Sleeping Dogs is a thriller where the protagonist suffers from memory loss and we, as the audience, go on a journey with them in search of answers.  Academy Award winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator) plays Roy Freeman, a retired homicide detective who lives alone and is struggling with early-onset dementia.  To limit its impact, he’s trying a revolutionary medical treatment, and the doctors ask that he “keep his mind active.”

He usually does this by completing jigsaw puzzles but since that wouldn’t make for an interesting movie, a contrived plot device is then used.  Roy is approached by an incarcerated individual, Isaac Samuel, who has served 10 years in prison for murder and will soon be executed.  He has consistently proclaimed his innocence and that he was “strung out” when a false confession was coerced out of him at unnecessarily intense interrogation.

The connection is that Roy headed the original investigation and in one final, desperate attempt for survival, Isaac seeks his help in re-examining the case.  Roy can’t remember any details (due to the dementia impacts) and so he digs out old paper files, visits retired colleagues, and re-interviews key witnesses.  I’m not sure how a retired cop has the legal authority to do any of this (he rocks up at a morgue at one point to inspect a body) but, in following the doctor’s advice, it’s keeping him busy.  As you might suspect, he uncovers several “loose ends” which seem to confirm Isaac’s claims of innocence…

Sleeping Dogs is the kind of movie that’s too tricky for its own good.  It wants to keep viewers on their toes with twist and turns, but they grow increasingly less credible.  The performances also lack sincerity and it’s if the actors were instructed to look/speak as dodgy and suspicious as possible.  Russell Crowe is an accomplished performer, but he can’t elevate this lacklustre screenplay.  It’s reminiscent of the corny, B-grade movies that would be released directly to video stores (bypassing cinemas) in the 1990s.

There’s a strong Australian connection as Sleeping Dogs was shot in Melbourne in 2023 and utilises local talent as part of the cast and crew.  I love promoting great Aussie cinema, but Sleeping Dogs is well below the required benchmark.