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I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

R Released May 16, 2003 1h 42m Crime Drama Mystery & Thriller List
45% Tomatometer 89 Reviews 35% Audience Score 5,000+ Ratings
Former gangster Will Graham (Clive Owen) is living a quiet life in the English countryside. When he learns his brother (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), a low-level drug dealer, has committed suicide, Will travels to London to investigate his death. He reconnects with his former lover, Helen (Charlotte Rampling), and starts piecing together the circumstances surrounding his brother's death. When he learns a man named Boad (Malcolm McDowell) is responsible, Will seeks revenge. Read More Read Less
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I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

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Critics Consensus

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead's spare performances and slick style are undermined by a lack of cohesive story, yielding a neatly packaged noir with little substance beneath its polished surface.

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Critics Reviews

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Antonia Quirke London Evening Standard Hodges films London restlessly, as though searching for some kind of relief. We are taken from cafs to flats to streets to houses to morgues to garages, in short unsentimental scenes while he drums up an odd, powerful mood of apprehensiveness. Dec 15, 2017 Full Review Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle This sad, dark movie moves across the screen like a sleepwalker, aloof and belonging neither to this world nor the next. Rated: 2.5/5 Aug 8, 2004 Full Review Eric Harrison Houston Chronicle Matching the movie's restrained style, Owen is extraordinarily still, and all the more riveting because of it. Rated: B+ Jul 30, 2004 Full Review Miles Fielder The List If anything, there a little too much dramatic action to be fully explored here. But if that makes for a slightly unsatisfying end result, it's no great criticism of an otherwise mature, sleazy piece of British film noir. Rated: 3/5 Apr 18, 2019 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 2.5/5 Dec 6, 2005 Full Review Harry Guerin RTÉ (Ireland) While the performances are excellent and the Get Carter-in-reverse plot is intriguing, this is a film where atmospherics triumph over the script. Rated: 2/5 Apr 19, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Long drawn out stupid movie! Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/19/21 Full Review Audience Member Wow. What a waste of time. Why not just give a toddler a gun and have him shoot at a camera for a couple of hours. Oh, and have him sat in a chair in East London - for atmosphere. Dull. Dull. Dull. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member It looks good for a noir, has the right brooding tone, and some pretty good performances from some quality actors, however, the incident that drives the plot, that sets everything in motion, just left me feeling unfulfilled, it also could have used a lot more malcolm mcdowell, he's one of my favorite actors, and we def needed way more of him, i think given the cast and director there was potential, but just needed a better story Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review william s I'm a fan of revenge flicks and this is a good one with a tour da force performance by Owens. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member After the eventually success of Croupier (1998), when it finally found it's audience. Director Mike Hodges and star Clive Owen reunited for this dark and brooding thriller, written by British TV writer Trevor Preston (The Tyrant King, The Sweeney and Fox). It harks back to the themes and motives of revenge and family that Hodges had explored in Get Carter (1971), but it's nowhere near as good. Will Graham (Owen) was once a powerful gangster, but he's turned his back on all of that, and he lives in a van in the middle of a forest. However, when he hears that his brother Davey Graham (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) has committed suicide. He comes home, but what Will doesn't know is that Davey was abused at the hands of psychotic car dealer Boad (Malcolm McDowell), Will plans a very elaborate revenge. He gets his old friend Mickster (Jamie Forman) to help find out the best way to find who drove Davey to suicide. Will's reappearance causes local crime lord Frank Turner (Ken Stott) to try and put a stop to Will's crusade for vengeance. It's a good film, but it could have been a lot better and a lot of themes on display here have been done elsewhere and done better as well, which is a shame considering the brilliant cast that Hodges has put together for this film. It just feels like he's playing it a bit too safe and he should be taking bigger risks. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member When his brother commits suicide, one time London gangster Will Graham determines to find out why. This leads him on a vengeful path as he begins to slip back into a world he had thought he had turned his back on for good. This dark, bleak film from director Mike Hodges boasts a really strong cast which includes Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling and Malcolm McDowell. The gritty, urban setting and characterisation feels true to life and the sparse script is good. There are, however, problems with the plot that leaves just a bit too much left unresolved and unexplained. What we end up with feels cold and unemotional when in actual fact, this is, at heart, a film about emotion, loyalty and relationships. A shame as this could have been a taught and interesting thriller. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Former gangster Will Graham (Clive Owen) is living a quiet life in the English countryside. When he learns his brother (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), a low-level drug dealer, has committed suicide, Will travels to London to investigate his death. He reconnects with his former lover, Helen (Charlotte Rampling), and starts piecing together the circumstances surrounding his brother's death. When he learns a man named Boad (Malcolm McDowell) is responsible, Will seeks revenge.
Director
Mike Hodges
Producer
Mike Kaplan, Richard E. Johnson, Michael Corrente
Screenwriter
Trevor Preston
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Production Co
Mosaic Film Group, Will & Company, Revere Pictures
Rating
R (Language|Brief Drug Use|Rape|Violent Images)
Genre
Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 16, 2003, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 15, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$358.8K
Runtime
1h 42m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby SRD
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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