Critic Reviews

Despite the ongoing momentum, Sleepless Night never loses touch with its story.

After a few turns in the modest narrative, an unlikely sense of structural resilience begins to emerge.

Frederic Jardin's gripping Sleepless Night maintains a consistently high pitch without growing monotonous.

There's no mistaking Jardin's playful mastery of the Hollywood-style action aesthetic; his movie starts in high gear and accelerates steadily from there.

An American remake is already being prepped. We suggest Hollywood simply cries uncle now and calls it a day.

There are hints of humor and depth early on, but about halfway through, Sleepless Night clicks into something funny and warm without sacrificing its edge.

Sisley is a former stand-up comic, although you'd never guess it here: Finding himself in the eye of a colossal shit storm of his own making, his Vincent is brusque and action oriented, his face, a picture of ulceration in progress.

Given how much it's in motion, Sleepless Night doesn't have much time for character development, but Sisley is a memorable antihero whose toughness barely masks his growing desperation and exhaustion, as his bleeding knife wound serves as the film's version of a countdown clock.

It's fast, lean, satisfying, and forgettable; nothing special, really, until you realize that the movies have largely lost the knack for brisk mayhem like this.

The film's headlong momentum streamrolls over all our questions, and we're carried along by the expertly choreographed action. Even after everything seems over, it isn't, and the last minutes are particularly satisfying.