Sleepless review

Sleepless is an action film starring Jamie Foxx as a Las Vegas cop who enters a casino to get his son back.

Like comedies, I can give action films a pass if it does what it says on the tin well. From the opening scene, I knew I wouldn't be giving it a pass. Every 2 seconds there was a cut, and in a car chase you need to be able to see what's happening. I didn't know how long they drove for, or the number of cars involved. It didn't improve from there. In the whole film there are only a few shots that last more than 10 seconds. And the cinematography is very shaky. A good director would be able to hide the fact that it's not Jamie Foxx without having the camera shake as if the cameraman had arthritis.

The story is extremely familiar and in no way engaging. It is essentially Jamie Foxx does Taken. He spends the majority of the film trying to get back his son, to whom he is distant, and will kill anyone that gets in his way. We never learn anything about his son except for that the plays an unspecified sport. Because of this I didn't care about Foxx's fight.

Once in the casino it is just a disappointing bore. Foxx is running around, going back and forth with guns and cocaine and the such. It's boring, repetitive and none of the action is memorable.

The most disappointing part is the cast. You have Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, Golden Globe nominee Michelle Monaghan, David Harbour, Dermot Mulroney and Scoot McNairy. Everyone in the cast is great, but they are all wasted on a terrible script.

After slogging through the film comes the part which annoyed me the most. Right before the credits is the most obvious sequel set up ever. It doesn't fit with what has led up to this point. I don't want to return to this film and I hope they don't get their wish and make a sequel.

In short: Sleepless is *cue overused phrase* not a fitting title.