Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

tomsview When I realised that this was a remake of Mike Hodges own "Get Carter", I couldn't help making comparisons. "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" is surprisingly slower but drugs and male rape raise the nastiness ante, despite the fact that "Get Carter" was one of most violent films of the 1970's.A problem in making a crime drama these days is the sheer amount of competition from brilliant, movie length crime series and one-off dramas on television – British ones such as "Lewis", "Wallander", "DCI Banks" and "Vera", and "Jesse Stone" from the US. Interesting plots, characters with depth, and great locations, they have set the bar high.A precursor to them all was "Get Carter". Although Michael Caine's Jack Carter was definitely on the other side of the law, the film featured real locations and characters whose faces revealed their backgrounds before a word was spoken. Although well made, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead"comes too late to add much to the genre.In "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead", Clive Owen's Will Graham returns from a long absence to visit his brother, Davey. He discovers that Davey committed suicide after being brutally sodomised by a sadistic gangster. Will, a former criminal hardman, has been working as a logger in the country. He lives in his van and has no wish to return to his former life of crime. However, he seeks revenge for his brother and causes a disturbance amongst his former criminal associates.Both films have a strong sense of journey. In "Get Carter" Jack Carter travels from London to Newcastle on the train and then drives through narrow, grim looking streets to attend his brother's funeral. Will Graham travels to London in his van through forests, tunnels and nighttime streets. Both Carter and Graham are violent men, but in Will Graham's case, this is established more by reputation; he only kills one person in "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead", while Jack Carter's body count in "Get Carter" is significantly higher.A big difference between the two films is the underlying humour Michael Caine brought to his role. In a scene at a racetrack, Jack Carter intimidates an old adversary, Eric Paice, played by Ian Hendry. "Still got your sense of humour", Eric sarcastically observes. Carter replies straight-faced, "Yes, I have always retained that Eric". It's an observation that Eric makes twice; the last time is just before Carter clubs him to death. There are no exchanges like that in "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead", Clive Owen is far more serious; his Will Graham is more introspective than Jack Carter, and he doesn't do humour, black or otherwise.Charlotte Rampling plays an old flame of Will's. Even in her late 50's she still brings her enigmatic quality to the film – she never has to do much to make an impression.Both films end on an ambiguous note although "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" takes ambiguity to a new level. While "Get Carter" ends along the lines of live by the sword, die by the sword, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" leaves us completely up in the air. It's a far less satisfying ending, annoying really, because after a slow start the movie does gets you in – a resolution would have been nice.

adamszabo07 First and foremost, this kind of crime drama is not for today's Transformers or Twilight-bred audiences. It's way too slow, way too depressing, way too sparse and way too revisionist or modernist. That is the reason why so many people rejected this film and why is it so darn underrated, for sure. If you are here for to see gun plays, neon lights, hyper-stylized images, fast pacing, skip it!Mike Hodges contributed to gangster cinema a lot. 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead' is like a spiritual remake of his 'Get Carter'. Showing reserved antiheroes, family revenge and a bitter return to forsaken lands, it's just seemingly a rip-off. Back in '71, Carter gave us an insightful look into a depraved industrial community from which morality is long gone, and the protagonist is as just as rotten and just as a scum as his preys - Michael Caine's enforcer is even shocked by his immorality in a place where people are sex toys or disposable objects and they can be killed in the blink of an eye. That film harshly criticized how British films were made at that time and the country's official politics as a genre piece. Well, looking at 'Dead', it's a more existential film. It's about grief "for a life wasted": I mean, the duration of the movie is 80% about how to process shame and pain in our inner life. The character of Will Graham (he's not the Thomas Harris character - by the way, Clive Owen plays him even better than he played Jack in the Hodges-directed 'Croupier') is strictly about this. Like a modernist loner. Maybe he will find an answer for WHY his brother killed himself, but what comes after this realization? "Not much." So he always will be lost, just like a modern hero. We know from the first moment that his crusade is a self- destructive one, and it has two reasons. One: When he lives as a woodcutter in the woods, he's just a shell of a man. That's his new, self-dedicated life. But it's a dead-end street. Two: He need to return to a London where his ex-friends have no noble codes to live by at all. Young hoodlums who beat up the rival gangster's bodyguard to prove themselves they're tough guys. They did it for showing off, not for showing a potential. Will immediately knew it. That's why he stated he would return to his old life. And the realization about Davey: he was a pampered scum indeed. He tried to look cooler than he really is. And yet, the scene when he ends his life, is just shocking. It's filmed in long shots, in blood-curdling slow fashion, just naturally - that's why we feel so bad when Mickser finds his carcass and starts shrieking. As if our room were cold and we felt the blade cutting through our throat. Davey was a petty criminal, but the way he is humiliated is just sickening - because Boad (Malcolm McDowell's first sensible role since say... 30 years)destroyed with what he showed off: his manhood. Maybe that's why we're terrified by that scene. So, it's a losing game for Will. Because even if he finds out the truth, that's only pain left. Lives - wasted forever. That's what the psychologist says. His words burn slowly. And Will drinks for the first time for three years. A silent breakdown. Tragically terrific. Most of the time, Hodges used crime dramas (or his pretty good subversive sci-fi, The Terminal Man penned by Chrichton) to show us alienated guys. In 'Dead', the camera is just like a TV camera: engineered, simple. Even the editing is stuck around in the '70s British flare, this film is not modern at all visually. But this slow pacing tells us that everything has been written, and that's fatality. Just some gunshots, no over-the-top violence: there's only one pervert scene, the desexualization of Davey. Filming it objectively from a single angle makes it more disturbing. 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead' is not for mainstream boys and girls. It's a great homage to European crime films of the '60s and the '70s. A fact which could be welcomed for cult viewers. Partly lyrical, partly minimalist as hell. Highly recommended!

AGreatMomentInTheCulture Sigh. If you want intrigue, dashing villains, homicidal maniacs, and dark British humor, watch Snatch again. If you like tough guys nurturing man-crushes and psychoanalyzing one another, get out your blankie and cuddle with the kittie-cat because you're in for a great ride.Portraying a broken man, Clive Owen is capable with his mannerisms and facial expressions but doesn't have enough character development to stretch his legs. Malcolm McDowell is misused as a sadistic buggerer who sets the film into action and then absents himself from its plot until he kindly explains himself at its bland finale.Rather than "act", characters eagerly provide their insights into one another's psyches - "you want to die, don't you?" - which doesn't seem very masculine. Characters speculate on what it might be like to bash into one another but the film avoids showing actual conflict. I was stunned to pause it and find there were only 20 minutes left because from a viewer's perspective nothing had happened since the first 20 minutes of the film elapsed.

Joseph Sylvers This would have been a great mystery film if it weren't a revenge film. There's a lot of great atmosphere, tension, and rhythm to the first half of the film, which increases but never really boils over. What connects these characters is power, wanting to be rid of it, loathing it, courting it, defending it trying to manufacture it, and in the end everyone seems only sinking deeper into troubles. It's definitely entertaining to watch and much more well paced and developed than your average gangster film, the problem is this movie feels like it's getting ready to explode or at least have a sequel, and it doesn't capitalize on it's tension. Some good editing, music, performances, and atmosphere, but if your not careful the story can slick it's way by without leaving an impact.