Since then, Owen hasn't really capitalized on the impact he made in that film, and Hodges, now in his 70s and always a slow worker, hasn't made another feature.

But here they are, together again with the moody noir "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," and boy, was it worth the wait. The film combines the revenge plot of Hodges' classic 1971 "Get Carter" with the elliptical technique of "Croupier" to tell a gripping and engrossing story of a man who has given up the crime life only to find himself sucked unwillingly back into it.

Will Graham (Owen) has given up London for work as a lumberjack (!) when he gets the sick feeling that something has happened to his brother Davey (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers). In fact, Davey is dead, a suicide, but for reasons so shocking and unsettling that Will has to resort to his old ways to avenge it -- even as half the hard men in London want to see him return to the obscurity of the woods.

With the masterly hand of Hodges at the helm and such stalwarts as Malcolm McDowell and Charlotte Rampling on board, it's a brilliant ride. "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" doesn't soften itself or make itself easy to follow, blessedly. It's steely, diamantine, knockout stuff.

A-; Great Britain; R; 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Broadway; 9:15 p.m. Friday, Guild