SummaryAn exploration of family, revenge and the conflicts inherent in trying to escape one's past. (Paramount Classics)
Directed By:Mike Hodges
Written By:Trevor Preston
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Metascore
Mixed or Average
56
User score
Mixed or Average
5.5
My Score
Drag or tap to give a rating
Hover and click to give a rating
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
56
46% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
46% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
8% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
88
A near-great British neo-noir, harsh yet hypnotic. Its psychological vortex can suck you in and leave you reeling.
80
The spare and unsparing tone of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead makes it as existential -- and as original -- a whodunit as they come.
70
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead has its problems: As beautifully made as it is, Hodges leaves some crucial portions of the story maddeningly unclear, particularly at the end.
60
A consuming and stimulating work and a theoretical thriller, it is a film which could only be created by a remarkably skillful filmmaker.
50
It has great mood and a sense of the toughness of the London underworld, but it never really gets into gear.
40
It's dank, moody and sorrowful (all pros for this critic), but also tediously vague, thematically plodding and often eye-rollingly absurd in its grimness. Some may swoon; I yawned a lot.
20
Wallows in the same affected retro stylishness as the earlier film (Croupier), suffers from the same lack of narrative focus, and is just as choked with clichés.
User score
Mixed or Average
5.5
45% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
27% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
27% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Apr 13, 2011
8
Clive Owen is on smouldering form as a retired gangster reluctantly drawn back to London to find out why his brother died. Slow-paced, but intense, with a low-key but believable finale, a nice performance from a grave-faced and dignified Charlotte Rampling and, unusually, Rhys-Meyers playing to his strengths as the callow brother overcome with humiliation. Arguably Owen has the presence to elevate even the most pedestrian movie into something interesting but there's enough going on amongst the other players to keep the attention throughout.
