I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

 2.5/4

Starring: Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, Jamie Foreman, Ken Stott, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Malcolm McDowell

Rated R for Language, a Rape Scene, Violent Images and Brief Drug Use

If there is any modern actor that seems built for film noir, it's Clive Owen.  With his soft voice and piercing gaze, he's as tailor-made for the genre as Bogie.  "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," the 2003 neo-noir from legendary British director Mike Hodges, seems like it would be the perfect vehicle to showcase Owen's skills in the genre.  In many ways, the film does just that.  But it makes one mistake that, if not fatal, severely undermines it.

Will Graham (Owen) has been living off the radar for three years.  He moves constantly, doesn't get involved with anything he doesn't have to, and avoids being traced at all costs.  Like most people who intentionally disappear, he has his reasons.  What those are, only he can tell you.  But we get a good idea just by looking at him.  "Don't ever underestimate Will Graham," someone says.  "He'll go the distance."  There is no reason to doubt this.  The death of his younger brother Davey (Rhys-Meyers) brings him back to London.  He's going to find out why his brother inexplicably slashed his own throat in a bathtub.

Hodges opts for a low-key approach for his film, and that's the right one.  This is about peering into the shadows of London that tourists, or most residents, never see.  And they should be grateful for that.  It is a hotbed of violence and duplicity where anyone can and will eliminate another person should the need arise.  The sense of danger is palpable.  These people skulk in the shadows, linger in nightclubs long before or after anyone sensible has gone home.  These are the men who wannabes play as for cheap thrills.  Only they are deadly serious.

Unfortunately, Hodges shows his cards too early and undercuts his own film.  We know in the early scenes that Davey was attacked and raped by a nasty piece of work named Boad (McDowell).  Revealing this at the beginning of the film robs the film of a substantial amount of tension, dramatic and otherwise.  Playing with the timelines was in vogue at the time, and a valid argument can certainly be made that the film isn't strictly about what happened to Davey.  But there is no creative reason to show the audience this at the beginning of the film.  It short-circuits the suspense the film is able to generate, and more importantly, it makes it needlessly difficult to identify with Will.  Film noir depends on the audience being with the hero every step of the way.  That doesn't happen here; we watch Will at a distance.

Clive Owen is perfectly cast as Will.  In fact, it's impossible to imagine anyone else playing the role.  No other work that he has done has been as riveting (although "Closer" comes in at a close second).  It isn't that we sense that Will is simmering with anger and bent on revenge.  That's too easy.  Using the subtlest of body language, Owen communicates that will is capable of violence at any time.  He's a remote bomb waiting to explode, only he is the one with his finger on the button.  There is never a moment where I doubted his potential to kill if he felt there was a reason for it.

Owen is surrounded by some of the best character actors in Britain, but this is his show.  He dominates the film, and they simply provide color.  Just like they're supposed to.  Charlotte Rampling hides deep wounds and fierce love as Helen, Will's old flame who loved him and his brother equally.  Jamie Foreman has no trouble playing the dim but loyal Mickser.  And neither Malcolm McDowell or Ken Stott have trouble playing the heavy.  If there is a weakness, it's Jonathan Rhys Meyers.  Meyers is a good actor, but he lacks the swagger and the sexuality to play this role.

There's a lot to like in "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead."  The atmosphere is consuming, the performances are powerful and Clive Owen appears in a role he was born to play.  But showing its cards in the opening act was a bad move.  I liked a lot of what I saw.  I really did.  But it could have been so much more.