ActionFest 2012: SLEEPLESS NIGHT Review

[One of ActionFest 2012 secret screenings was Frederic Jardin wonderfully convoluted thriller, Sleepless night.  Here is a previous review of the film from our archives.]

During an early morning drug robbery, the culprits make off with a dozens of kilograms of cocaine, but one unlucky fellow, Vincent, gets tagged with a stab wound, and even worse, has his face spotted by the dealers he is stealing from.  But wait a minute.  Vincent and his partner are cops who have plotted a rogue, and quite illegal heist for some much needed cash.  Vincent, all ready at odds with ex-wife gets in trouble when the owner of the drugs, Jose - a snappily dressed middle-man who operates out of a Paris night club the size of a small airport - kidnaps his son Thomas in exchange for Vincent returning the drugs.  During a packed night, the hand-off at the club gets royally messed up as two more branches of the police, Vincent's partner, the Turks who are trying to buy the drugs from Jose and at probably a couple of other interested parties join the chase as Vincent's changes of getting his son back dwindle and his changes of getting beaten, shot, stabbed, busted, or simply bleeding death on the floor increase - exponentially.  As far as I can tell, the entire film takes place within 24 hours, but the pacing is so relentless, that at times, it feels like a single whirlwind take.

The film juggles relationships just as effortlessly, who is on whose side and whose side they thing others are on, without losing the films focus on Vincent getting his son back.  You would think with all that attention to detail would be enough, but then Jardin throws in some real heart with the arc between Vincent and Thomas, proving that the relationship between father and son can be the knottiest one of all.  As action pictures go, Sleepless Night is a complete and satisfying package that will make genre aficionados and general audience alike, stand up and take notice.