SLEEPING DOGS is an engaging little Kiwi drama, quite obviously made on a low budget but nevertheless a film which looks great in high definition even today. It features Sam Neill in his first leading role, playing a mild-mannered ordinary guy who finds himself caught up in political instability following the break-up of his relationship. Mistaken for a terrorist, he finds himself on the run and pursued by the authorities in a hostile world. The film's rural setting looks frequently great, while Neill himself is as good as you'd expect him to be. The film's political futurist plot remains as timely as ever, and there's a real undercurrent of nihilism which keeps it dark and focused.

I found this film from New Zealand listed in every edition of the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I was most interested in it for this reason, but also because it launched the career for the actor best known for Jurassic Park, and it is the directorial debut for New Zealand filmmaker Roger Donaldson (Cocktail, Species, Dante's Peak, The World's Fastest Indian). Basically, Smith (Sam Neill) has left his family, following the break-up of his marriage, caused by his wife having an affair with another man named Bullen (Ian Mune). Smith has moved out and arranged to live alone on the Coromandel peninsula on an island owned by a Maori tribe. Meanwhile, a revolutionary struggle escalates as an oil embargo leaves the country in an energy crisis. Political tension boils over into a civil war between leftist guerillas and the New Zealand government. However, Smith and his dog enjoy a peaceful island life, having little interaction with the rest of society. Smith's idyllic life is shattered when a bomb is exploded in a nearby town, and police arrive on his island to arrest him and search for illegal weapons. After a number of explosives that Smith had been unaware of are found, he is arrested by the police, his dog is left behind. Smith is imprisoned, interrogated and tortured. Jesperson (Clyde Scott) tells Smith that the government regard him as a key leader of the guerrillas, it is unclear if he had been framed or it is an innocent mistake. He is offered expulsion from New Zealand if he makes a confession, or he will face trial with a likely death sentence. During a prison transfer, Smith forces himself to be sick, causing a confusion for the captors, he then jumps out of the moving vehicles and makes his escape. Smith manages to flee the city and finds work in a small holiday camp and forms a relationship with a local girl. He is glad to be away from the civil war again and blends in, but then a US Army unit arrives and takes over the grounds. Smith clashes with the US forces commander Colonel Willoughby (Warren Oates) who has suspicions about his intentions during the conflict. The matter is complicated more by the arrival of Bullen, who is now a senior leader of the underground guerrilla movement. As the US forces capture and kill more rebels, Smith is unwillingly to join Bullen in an attack on the military unit. Following the unsuccessful attack on the unit, Smith and Bullen flee together to a nearby forest, where they are pursued and cornered by government forces. Government forces surround the guerrillas and bomb their encampment, but Smith and Bullen escape. But they are again cornered by Jesperson and his elite squad, and Bullen is severely wounded. They manage to stumble through the woods and make it to the clearing, and they are relieved as they believe they have evaded capture. But the squad reappear, Bullen is killed, and Smith provokes Jesperson into shooting him. Also starring Nevan Rowe as Gloria, Ian Watkin as Dudley and Donna Akersten as Mary. Neill proves himself as an up-and-coming talent as the innocent reclusive man unintentionally drawn into a battle between freedom fighters and democracy, Oates does alright in his time onscreen as well. Set in a near future of economic collapse, I will be honest and say I didn't understand all the political stuff, but for the moments of guns blazing, military conflict, violence and characters going on the run, it is an interesting dramatic action thriller. Worth watching!

I first saw this on Channel 4 away back in 1986 and as far as I know it was its only broadcast on British network television and was impossible to find in the preceding years . It was a film that stayed in my memory and I often wondered if it was as good as I remembered . After just seeing it again after an interval of more than 25 years I'm happy to report that my memory hasn't cheated and is every bit as good as I remember it

My own knowledge of New Zealand is that it's a country of great natural wilderness . It's slightly bigger than mainland Britain but only has a population of 4 million . New Zealanders I have met have been uniformly friendly and any conversation quickly gets round to either rugby or hiking in the mountains and forests of their homeland . The only complaint Kiwis have of their country is that life there is very mundane and boring . Bearing this mind the scenario of SLEEPING DOGS means if life is grim as it is seen here what hope is there for the rest of humanity ?

From a film making point of view it's a movie that is rather flat and low key and this shouldn't be taken in any negative way . The budget could have been bigger but instead of spectacle we're shown the very human elements of political chaos . By that I mean people just want to get on with their lives but are unable to due to a violently repressive state on one side and revolutionaries trying to the state by a system of government that may be just as bad

It's interesting how much resonance the film has with New Zealanders on this page but when the film was produced and indeed when I saw it in the mid 1980s the scenario was being played out for real in the killing fields of South America where people would simply " disappear " if they'd make their political ideas too well known to the wrong people . Thankfully we've moved on from the dystopian future as seen here