Sleeping Dogs 2024

Roy Freeman [Russell Crowe] is a retired homicide detective graphed by Alzheimer’s, undergoing experimental treatment in the hope of reclaiming fragments of memories tied to a case that still haunts him. When Emily Dietz [Kelly Greyson], an advocate for prison inmates, reachers out to him, she pleads for a meeting with Isaac Samuel [Pacharo Mzembe], an inmate scheduled for execution for the murder of Dr. Joseph Wieder [Marton Csokas]. Isaac claims he was pressured to confess by Roy’s former partner, Detective Jimmy Remis [Tommy Flanagan], setting the stage for Roy to reopen a case he thought was closed.

As Roy revisits his old files, he confronts gaps in the investigation. He and Jimmy flip through the records and discover that they never scrutinized Richard Finn [Harry Greenwood], a suspect whose fingerprints were found all over Dr. Wieder’s house. Jimmy promises to look into Finn’s role, but soon Roy learns Finn died suddenly, and he only has a fleeting memory of Finn standing outside Wieder’s house the day after the murder. At Finn’s funeral, Roy encounters members of Finn’s family and receives a manuscript Finn had been writing, outlining Finn’s time with Dr. Wieder and with a woman Finn loved, Laura Baines [Karen Gillan]—a woman who was collaborating with Wieder on her thesis.

The manuscript hints at a deeper motive and a complicated relationship network. Not long after, Laura Baines learns she will not receive due credit for her research, and she disappears from public view. Roy then tracks down Finn’s widow, who recalls a heated exchange Finn had with Dr. Elizabeth Westlake [Karen Gillan]. This encounter leads Roy to Dr. Westlake herself, who recognizes him immediately. He learns that Finn had stalked Westlake and made her feel unsafe, which binds Laura Baines and Westlake more closely together in his mind. He leaves with a copy of Finn’s manuscript, a clue that begins to unravel the web.

Roy’s investigation expands when he meets Wayne Devereaux, one of Wieder’s former patients, who mentions a heated argument involving Wieder, Finn, and Westlake. When Devereaux later confronts Westlake at her home over the manuscript, Devereaux tries to pull away, and a violent confrontation ensues—Devereaux is shot dead in what is framed as self-defense. Returning to a bar he once frequented, Roy pieces together fresh details from the bartender about a former bartender named Diane, a name that will soon prove pivotal. Diane Lynch [Lynn Gilmartin], Roy learns, is connected to Wieder’s private life in a troubling way.

Following a trail of memories, Roy heads to Wieder’s house with a mix of suspicion and fading certainty. He digs up a buried baseball bat in the garden and is confronted by Laura Baines (now revealed as Dr. Westlake) along with Jimmy Remis. The two begin to explain their intertwined connection to Wieder’s murder and to Finn’s manuscript. Laura reveals that Devereaux would be implicated unless certain revelations were kept hidden. In a tense exchange, Jimmy is shot as he tries to brief Roy, and Laura trains her weapon toward Roy, only to be stopped by the dying Jimmy’s last act—he declares that he did everything for Roy.

As memories flood back, Roy recalls a disturbing detail Devereaux mentioned about Diane: she is his ex-wife, and she had once been treated by Dr. Wieder to erase painful memories of her alcoholic father. Wieder exploited Diane, and a private recording of their encounter exists. Laura hands this recording to Roy, who watches it and finally grasps the full truth behind Wieder’s machinations. He returns to Wieder’s home, where he clubs Wieder to death, aided indirectly by the chaotic aftermath of the confrontation.

In the end, Jimmy helps Roy avoid immediate consequences, but the truth remains harsh: the cover-up allows an innocent man, Isaac Samuel, to spend ten long years behind bars. The story closes on the note that memory, guilt, and justice are tangled, and the pursuit of truth has a heavy cost for everyone involved.