Am I Missing Something?

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

When it comes to action thrillers, French cinema has put out some really good stuff over the last couple of years. This is another example of great action thriller. A ride you want to take if you like movies with a high suspense level. It actually impressed Americans that much, that they made a remake of this one.You can assume that the Remake is not as good as this, but if you don't like reading subtitles, then you might want to go check the Jamie Foxx version of this. This one is a roller-coaster that won't let you breathe. Once the action starts, there is no stopping. It's more about action and about getting things rolling. Still you got really good actors pulling things off. Sit back, watch and enjoy

This is one of those pictures that picks you up, drags you along, wringing you out all the way and leaves you gasping at the end. Somewhere along the way there was a plot, I think, but it was so complicated that it was difficult to follow, what with all the action. The kitchen of the night-club takes a terrible drubbing and gets dripped with blood all over, about five men are brutally shot dead and one is finished off by being manually suffocated by, yes, the bad guy, whom we thought throughout was the good guy. But the pretty little female detective has seen through him as a result of messages on her (unbeknownst to her, stolen) cell-phone. She's shot, but yes she lives and just with one look of hers, you know that she will pursue him and testify against him and ruin his life and send him to prison for many, many years. It's a great picture and congratulations to the directer, who also wrote it. BTW, it's yet another low-budget picture of shatteringly high quality that makes Hollywood's $400 million budgets look absolutely ridiculous.

Like in his two previous movies , 'The Burma Conspiracy' and 'Largo Winch', Tomer Sisley delivers a solid performance; he is convincing, pulls you into his character's corner and you will not only be rooting for him, you will feel his pain. As much as I enjoyed the previous two films of Sisley, I was no less engaged here. The movie's premise is simple, at least at the onset, but then it gets complicated in just the right measure, as any good thriller ought to. Also, as you'll find in several top French action thriller, the line between good and bad cop gets a little blurry, creatively speaking (that's good); there are no good guys, you might think, only innocent bystanders.Sisley plays a motivated man like you would expect any 'father trying to rescue his son' type character should; however, this movie brings it to an even higher plateau. You are convinced his character is a cop turned bad, like so many classic cop characters do, and this is strategically intended; he's not. It is easy to miss this important fact, with all the tense action and intense bad guys, and I almost did. At that point, you are even more compelled by the story, but if you don't pay attention, you just might remain unaware he was a good cop until the end when it becomes clear he was a hero times two.The very high ratings by critics indicate to me they have not missed any of those details. But fear not, regardless if the fast paced action scenes prevent you from catching the little clues, it can still work thanks to a fine 'dénouement' ending; nonetheless, I hope you catch all the clues. Don't drink Red Bull or anything of the sort while viewing this highly charged film; it may be harmful to your health. On the other hand, if you do, you won't miss any of the smart twists.

"Sleepless Night" opens with a drug heist gone wrong, which should already give you an idea of the kind of movie it is. Two masked robbers aggressively drive up to a car in the middle of the street, in which are two drug carriers with a duffle bag containing around ten kilos of cocaine. The masked robbers pull guns on the carriers and order them to retrieve the bag. One of the carriers is shot dead, but not before he stabs the robber in his side and taking off his mask, exposing him to public view. The other one escapes. It's at this point we learn that the robbers are actually cops. The one that was stabbed is named Vincent (Tomer Sisley). He also happens to be the one that orchestrated the heist. The one that let the other carrier escape is named Manuel (Laurent Stocker). They know they have to go to the scene and at least attempt to cover their tracks.As this is being established, we learn that Vincent has a teenage son named Thomas (Samy Seghir). The two are not on the best terms; Vincent, always working, is never around. He drops Thomas off at school, the two having had an argument. Later in the day Vincent's ex-wife, Julia (Catalina Denis), calls in a panic, as Thomas hasn't been answering his cell phone. Initially, Vincent believes that there's nothing to worry about. But then he gets a call from Thomas' cell phone; on the other end is Vincent's underworld connection, a mob boss named Jose Marciano (Serge Riaboukine). Thomas has been kidnapped. Jose is very upset with Vincent. Not only was he recognized in the heist by a bystander, he also has the bag of cocaine. Thomas' life depends on Vincent delivering the bag to Jose's nightclub by the end of the night.Vincent has every intention of delivering, much to the chagrin of Manuel, who has debts that need to be erased. Vincent infiltrates Jose's nightclub with the bag and promptly hides it above a ceiling tile in a men's room stall. Unbeknownst to him, he has been followed by another cop named Vignali (Lizzie Brochere), who traces his steps, finds the bag, and moves it into a spot just above a ladies' room stall. Her superior is a cop named Lacombe (Julien Boisselier), who has an understanding with the desperate Manuel. Lacombe's job is to sniff out corrupt cops, which would be fine except that he's a zealot and an absolute jerk. Vincent does not yet know he's involved, but it well aware of who Lacombe is, and he can sense early on that he and Manuel are already in trouble.It's at this point that the film becomes a monotonous series of tense exchanges and action sequences. Vincent finally meets with Jose, who then allows Thomas to catch a glimpse of his father. Vincent returns to the men's room, discovers that the bag of cocaine is missing, and in a panic storms into the club's kitchen and forces two cooks to fill dozens of Ziploc bags with flour. Jose meets with the Turkish carriers the cocaine is supposed to be delivered to, and yet another series of tense exchanges take place. Vincent rescues his son, only for him to be promptly recaptured. There are many scenes in which Vincent frantically darts through various sections of the club, from the main room to the adjoining restaurant to the upstairs rooms to the kitchen. The latter is the setting for a physical altercation between Vincent and Lacombe, one that was allowed to go on much longer than it should have.I think part of the problem here is that the plot comes off as a means to an end, namely an excuse to overload the final act with action sequences. There's nothing innately wrong with action, although I am bothered when it amounts to little more than displays of kinetic energy. It becomes less about the situation and more about the violence, the choreography, the unsteady camera-work, the standoffs, and the gunshots. It becomes a technical exercise when it should have remained a story. When the film does stop to take a breath, we notice that Vincent is continuing to nurse his stab wound. This means, obviously, that it's not just a matter of saving Thomas; it's a matter of saving him before time runs out.The climax of the film, which I will not spoil for you, is more emotional than it is narrative. There is something to be said for taking that approach, but only when it's done well. Here, we're left with the unshakable feeling that more needed to be said before the final credits started rolling. The loose ends were left untied. Here is a film in which you want full resolution, if for no reason other than it seems appropriate given the material. "Sleepless Night" gets off to an adequate start and is in general not a bad film, but I do feel that it could have tried for something a little less mechanical. It's at heart the story of a father trying to rescue his son, so I see no reason why the filmmakers had to rely so heavily on unnecessary displays of frenetic activity. Less action and more character would have been a good place to start.-- Chris Pandolfi (www.atatheaternearyou.net)