Sleeping Dogs Reviews

Nothing about this futuristic sci-fi adventure is exceptional or unexpected, except the extensive exposition involving gems replacing cash as currency. While ripping off master criminal Sanchez Boon (C. Thomas Howell), gentleman thief Harry Maxwell (Scott McNeil) finds his getaway impeded by an incoming SWAT team. Unflustered, Harry snatches some baubles and frees Pandora Grimes (Heather Hanson), a slave who works in Sanchez's faux-emerald lab. Together they elude Sanchez's bodyguards, then hide in a crate bound for a galactic prison ship. Sanchez is captured by the Feds, and finds himself being shipped off to that same destination. Once aboard, however, wily Sanchez releases the "sleeping dogs" — vicious criminals imprisoned in Social Deviant Sleep Transport Units. Slaughtering their guards, Harry and his cut-throats break all ten commandments, while Harry and Pandora undermine their take-over. Blame CON AIR for inspiring this piece of space junk, which aspires to create is a larger-than-life ambience but lacks the requisite witty repartee and elegant performances. What it offers instead are looney-tune characters, stale dialogue and the unmistakable whiff of cheesy camp. Howell's performance recalls the inglorious days of Akim Tamiroff (minus the accent); one of the most ubiquitous and least versatile actors in the direct-to-video marketplace, Howell's comic villainy suggests Groucho Marx rolling his eyes at You Bet Your Life contestants. But to castigate Howell for all the film's deficiencies would be unfair; blame must be divided between Michael Bafaro's coarse direction, the slapdash production values and Christopher Hyde's lazy, derivative screenplay.