Davey is what could only be described as a wide boy. He deals drugs, has lots of questionable contacts, and is loved by women. He is in his early 30's but still lives alone in a squalid flat. One night a occasional lover by the name of Sheridan calls Davey saying she has a party that she needs him to attend. Apparently an old friend who Sheridan has not seen for some time has returned with a penchant for cocaine.
Davey dutifully attends the party, but is completely unaware that on his journey he was being pursued by a sinister black Range Rover. Having carried out the deal Davey heads off into the night to return home. His journey is quite dragged out first of all he finds it difficult to get a taxi; then when he does get one its one of those illegal taxi's that operate throughout most major cities. The driver of the cab has engine troubles and hastily vacates his cab announcing "London is not where it is! New York is where it is! I'm off". Davey is left to walk the final part of his journey alone, and is in a joyful playful mood as he skips through the streets. Again the black Range Rover pulls by, this reverses into a back street and waits for Davey to pass.
In the Range Rover is local top businessman and all round hard guy Boad, he has a special interest in the activities of Davey. Having unleashed his fellow passengers to drag Davey off the streets kicking and screaming. Davey is led into a small workshop, where Boad proceeds to brutally rape him.
Come sunrise Davey has finally managed to compose himself and struggles with some difficulty to get home. Upon arrival and obviously feeling dirty Davey runs himself a bath which he climbs into fully clothed. With little thought or effort Davey cuts his own throat and dies in the bath.
Initially Davey may seem insignificant, but Davey's brother is a different matter altogether. Three years prior Will ran London's east end from a crime related perspective,
he was feared by everyone and made Ron and Reggie Kray look like toy soldiers. But suddenly something happened and Will had a nervous breakdown, he left the city and drove around the countryside in a van.
Now Will is aware of what has happened to Davey, now Will is back…….
Cast
Clive Owen .... Will Charlotte Rampling .... Helen Jonathan Rhys Meyers .... Davey Malcolm McDowell .... Boad Jamie Foreman .... Mickser Ken Stott .... Turner Sylvia Syms .... Mrs. Bartz Alexander Morton .... Victor
On paper I'll Sleep When I'm Dead sounds like a fantastic idea; when you connect the fact that Director Mike Hodges who bought us the original Get Carter considers this a follow up to (although not in the conventional sense) to Get Carter you immediately think that something great is upon you. However that's sadly wrong, what you in fact have on you is the premise of a good story that transpires to be an empty shell.
The first thing that is wrong is the character definition; four of the main characters are connected somehow, we know that Will and Davey were brothers, but the other two characters Mickser and Helen are kind of unexplained. Helen for example appears as if she may be the mother of Davey and Will, but it's never clearly pointed out. Neither is the relationship between Mickser and the brothers, is he just a friend? If he is he seems to be very involved in the arrangements made after Davey's demise. Then you have the gangsters if they are indeed gangsters these are Turner and Boad; now somehow these two are connected but again it's never expressed as to how. They never share a scene and they never once have any contact with each other. The only person you can make any connection with in respect of feelings is Mrs. Bartz whom you see only three times and for less than three minutes in total, she is Davey's landlady and you really believe the devastation she feels at the death of Davey; she in fact seems like a mother figure to him.
The story itself is drab and drawn out, its not until seventy three minutes into the film that Will has actually discovered what happened to Davey, and then in the last twenty odd minutes the whole main weight of the story needs to be played out. But even then it's very badly designed your left with more questions than you had all the way through the film and in honesty I felt thoroughly cheated. Everything about the story is a bit cheesy and lacking, Will realises something is wrong back home (which he has isolated himself from for 3 years) when he sees a ghost of Davey at a ferry port. And then Will's character played by Clive Owen makes a series of nonsensical and emotionless decisions; when really if you're an emotionless person the one time you feel emotion is at the passing of a loved one. The gangsters are not really that menacing and not that clever, these are supposed to be big dangerous people yet they make dangerous mistakes. You're led to believe all the way through the film that you're being led to some sort of gang war and certainly a bloodbath; but by the end there has not even been a whisper of war and in respect of a bloodbath there are only three deaths in the entire film and one of those is a dog.
It's very difficult to comment on the acting, as really the actors are only being led through Hodges creation. Clive Owen is kind of bland, he seems like he is permanently 5 minutes behind everybody else. Charlotte Rampling plays her usual role of being detached from everything and totally uninteresting. Ken Stott pulls of the worse London accent I have ever heard in my life, he is just incapable of hiding the Scot in him. And Malcolm McDowell I just don't get anyway, 40 odd years ago he made a film called If… and it seems like on the basis of this he should be celebrated and revered; in this movie h does what he always does and just plays himself. But I must commend Sylvia Simms her three minutes on screen are the most in touch you feel with the film, and certainly the closest you feel to reality.
It's kind of ironic that I'll Sleep When I'm Dead was a big seller in respect of DVD sales, not only did it sit at number one in the charts for several weeks; but when I used to sell DVD's I could never get hold of enough of these. I can only conclude that the reason it was so popular was at the time of its DVD release Clive Owen was pretty much a guaranteed cert to be the new James Bond. Because having flitted through several websites today I cannot find one person that has anything decent to say about the film.
In my mind I'll Sleep When I'm Dead is another prime example of why the British film industry is in so much turmoil. It pretends to be a thinking movie, but I think it out thought itself; either that or they ran out of money. Too many dark brooding moments in which the characters look bleakly out into the wide yonder, too many unanswered questions, and a plot that is flawed after twenty minutes of viewing.
Special Features
An audio commentary with Mike Hodges and Trevor Preston - I watched this in the hope that Hodges would reveal the answers to some of the questions I had. But he seemed to have less idea of what was going on than I did. In one classic moment Hodges says "I don't remember that bit" FOR GODS SAKE!!!! Did he not direct the movie? How could he not remember a scene?
Mike Hodges And I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - Is a documentary made by the BBC; this was intended to be screened on the night of the UK premier, however I think the BBC found something more interesting to show, perhaps they dug out an old test card. This documentary is bland beyond belief, Hodges rambles on about situations that have passed him by; windows of opportunity lost forever. The guy who is presenting the show seems as mortified at the movie as I did.
Deleted Scenes - Well personally I feel the whole movie belongs in this section. The deleted scenes are just variations of scenes that were in the film. One of the scenes was exactly the same shot from another angle.
Trailer - Believe it or not, but the trailer was not even that good. In fact had I seen the trailer then I would have saved myself some considerable time watching this truly dire movie.
You can purchase I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, if my review has thus inspired you to from Play.com priced £6.99. But personally I feel you would do better waiting for it to arrive on television.
Pictures of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (DVD)
Daveys last cab ride
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