| Sleeping Dogs | |
| Producer: | Suzanne Daley Michelle Gahagan Lloyd A. Simandl Deborah Thompson |
| Director: | Michael Bafaro |
| Starring: | Scott McNeil C. Thomas Howell Kiara Hunter Heather Hanson |
| Music: | Peter Allen |
| Cinematography: | David Pelletier |
| Editing: | Richard Benwick Derek A Whelan |
| Distributor: | North American Pictures |
| Runtime: | 96 minutes |
| Country: | Canada Czech Republic Germany |
| Language: | English |
Sleeping Dogs (also known as Deviants and Mission: LA 2029)[1] [2] is a 1997 Canadian sci-fi action film directed by Michael Bafaro.
A jewel thief in 2020s Los Angeles (Scott McNeil) tries to save a spaceship crew from the emerald smuggling criminals who are holding them captive.[3] [4]
It was a Czech Republic co-production, with filming taking place in Czech studios. It is the only film to feature Australian-Canadian actor Scott McNeil in a leading role. McNeil is known for his extensive voice acting career, and at the time was voicing Piccolo in the Saban dub of Dragon Ball Z.
It was released direct-to-video in North America, Europe and Australia.[5]
Robert Firsching of AllMovie gave the film two stars, writing "Set in the year 2029 for no apparent reason, this Canadian-Czech co-production literally consists of almost nothing but a steady barrage of gunfire and explosions. Reducing its genre (sci-fi/action) to nothing but the so-called 'good parts,' Sleeping Dogs (1997) emerges as a movie that looks like it was filmed in shorthand. It's a paint-by-numbers effort with very little to either praise or criticize; it's just there, although that's no reason for anyone to feel compelled to watch it."[6] He also claimed that, "As the ludicrously named Sanchez Boon, C. Thomas Howell prances around and prissily quotes literature like a bearded Riddler from a particularly bad episode of the old Batman TV series. Howell's ridiculous performance is the sole reason that even those viewers who cherish bad movies would want to watch this."[6]
TV Guide gave Sleeping Dogs a mixed negative review, labelling it as having "looney-tune characters, stale dialogue and the unmistakable whiff of cheesy camp."[7] They claimed that, "nothing about this futuristic sci-fi adventure is exceptional or unexpected, except the extensive exposition involving gems replacing cash as currency."[7]