Insomnia

Al Pacino's character looked tired when he arrived in the Alaskan town. As he attempts to reconcile a serious mistake, he grows wearier and wearier. Enter Robin Williams, a sociopath who plays a cat and mouse game with Pacino. Balance that against the perceptive and admiring Hillary Swank and a lot of baggage from Pacino, and you have the ingredients for a terrific thrill a minute film. I found myself rooting for the Pacino character even though there is a level of dishonesty that will be hard to reconcile. He must cover some huge tracks. There are some issues with Williams' ability to know things that are a little far fetched. Many villains fall into that gap, but that's OK. We take him for what he is. It's an engaging movie.

As said in my reviews for his masterpiece 'Memento' and the fascinating 'The Prestige', Christopher Nolan has always struck me as a very talented film-maker, and most of his films are ones that have impressed me a lot. Even weaker efforts, where his ambition can get in the way, have a good deal to admire. His films are all impeccably crafted technically, and often entertaining and thought-provoking, also knowing how to get good performances out of talented casts.

'Insomnia' is not one of Nolan's best films, but not his worst. For me it's somewhere in the middle if ranking his films, 'Memento' being his best and, while with a lot of impressive elements, 'Interstellar' being the one that impressed least. It shows fidelity to the Norwegian original, but doesn't go so far that it's a pale retread, in a way that is summed up very well by Roger Ebert.

Nolan directs with impeccable style and sense of atmosphere, as well as an ability to tell a potentially convoluted story with clarity without resorting to excess and over-ambition. Much of 'Insomnia' is exceptionally well made, while beautiful Alaska has rarely been more oppressive as well while the cinematography has grit and class. David Julyan's music score is not quite as complex as that for 'Memento', but has a very effective eeriness.

The script is tight and thoughtful, and the story, filled with neat twists and turns, is hugely compelling and atmospheric, never being too simple but complex enough to still be understandable and be respectful to the viewer. The cat and mouse stuff could have been predictable and convoluted but executed in masterly hair-raising but also quiet tension.

Performances are all strong across the board. While underused somewhat, Martin Donovan and especially Hilary Swank are great here. It is however Al Pacino and Robin Williams who are even better. Pacino gives perhaps his best performance since 'Heat' and he has to me definitely not been on this amount of blistering form as he is in 'Insomnia'. Williams is cast against type, and he plays a genuinely terrifying character with menace but also dignity and restraint.

Flaws are only a couple, with the film ending too conveniently and some of the editing being a touch too jumpy.

All in all, a gripping film and hardly a sleeper. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I was really looking forward to this film, and I'm glad to say that I wasn't the least bit disappointed. First of all, I was glad to see Al Pacino on screen again. It seems like it's been a while since I've seen him on screen. I think the last film he was in was "Any Given Sunday." Pacino yet again delivers a brilliant performance, strapping the audience in for a wild ride through the emotionally scarred mind of Detective Will Dormer. It seemed like I could feel his every emotion throughout the course of the movie. Because this is a character-driven story that revolves around Dormer, his pain, anguish and guilt on account of accidentally taking his partner's life, constant insomnia and subsequent threats by his nemesis, played by Robin Williams as a writer of trashy detective novels who's fascinated by Dormer and blackmails him by threatening to spill out the secret of Dormer shooting his partner. As for Robin Williams, he is fully convincing as the reclusive novelist/murderer of a 17-year-old girl. I suspected, from the trailers, that he'd play a serial killer. I wouldn't exactly classify his character as a serial killer, but he is the antagonist and a murderer and Williams plays the role perfectly, never underplaying it and never overplaying it. He could've went over-the-top, playing a totally ruthless killer who cackles at the thought of murdering someone in cold blood. Though he's not our sympathetic character, you do feel sympathy for him at times. And I like how the story creates this little cat-and-mouse game between the two characters, each one plagued by skeletons in the closet. Oscar-winner Hilary Swank delivers another fine performance, and I was stunned to see how amazingly attractive she looks, after having seen her gender-bending role as Brandon Teena in "Boys Don't Cry."

Christopher Nolan is the acclaimed director of "Memento" and he scores yet again, with this beautifully constructed thriller. I was intrigued from start to finish. Nolan's use of lighting is dark and murky, wonderfully setting the noirish tone. Nolan shows great promise as an up-and-coming director, and with a good outlet he can possibly become the next Kubrick. I greatly look forward to seeing his next project, whenever that may be.

I recommend "Insomnia" to anyone who loved Nolan's previous "Memento" or anyone who simply enjoys a great, multi-faceted mystery/thriller that will keep you guessing at every turn. I think it's too early to vote this movie as one of the best films of 2002, but it's a possible candidate. We don't see too many "great" films anymore, and whenever they're out there it's good to take advantage.

My score: 9 (out of 10)

First off, Christopher Nolan is one of my biggest influences when it comes to film and screen writing. With films such as Following and Memento, both of which reached cult following levels, he is well on his way to a successful Hollywood career. Then, today came, his 3rd film was released, Insomnia. Based on a 1997 Norwegian film written by Nikolaj Frobenius and Erik Skjoldbjærg, Insomnia is a true work of art in the world of film.

Christopher Nolan takes all that was the 1997 film, and brings it to the next level, using his own style of directing, a musical score with shades of Memento, and an all star cast. Al Pacino and Robin Williams pulls out the greatest performances of their careers in the past decade, if not in their ENTIRE careers in my eyes.

Pacino once again excels in the role of master dective, while Williams takes this chance to show his "dark side", and he does it so well. I can only hope that this is a rebirth of Robin Williams, and as it stands with his upcoming film One Hour Photo (which he once again plays a dark, psychotic role), it seems to be just that! Hilary Swank also pulls out what is the greatest role of her career.

Insomnia brings you in as an audience, with it's perfectly woven plot, with a film noir feel to it, just as Nolan's first two films. It is a rollercoster ride of drama and suspense as you watch Al Pacino from the very beginning unravel, and the rest of the story and his past catches up with him. I can not say much more about it, as I do not wish to spoil anything about if for you, but I do want to say this... ...go see it, right now, and enjoy. If you love crime/mystery/drama films with that wonderful Film Noir feel to it, you will love this film. If that isn't your thing, then the performances of the three main actors are worth the price of a ticket in itself.

Finally I just want to say, that Insomnia proves once and for all that Christopher Nolan will indeed be a force to reckoned with in Hollywood. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... ...Christopher Nolan is well on his way to becoming the Hollywood legend which he proves he is capable of becoming.

The film Insomnia, based on an earlier Norwegian film, is an almost winner.

By acclaimed directed Christopher Nolan, (Memento,) this is a bet that almost, but not quite, pays off, in the sense of waiting for the "other shoe to drop." It is not so much a murder mystery as it is a character study, but, as with the rest of the film, it's almost but not quite that, also.

Al Pacino is Detective Will Dormer, who has been summoned to Nightmute, Alaska by an old friend to help solve the murder of a 17-year-old girl. Pacino is a man on the verge of many things: retirement, age, and moral collapse, as we learn early on. He and his partner, Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are being investigated by Internal Affairs back in Los Angeles. On the way to Alaska, Hap informs Dormer that he intends to "cut a deal" and take whatever comes of it. This doesn't please Dormer in the slightest, and he gives the impression he'll fight the investigation, and his partner's selling-out, but fate has a different idea. Early in the investigation, Dormer accidentally shoots Hap. With his partner now dead, Dormer has nothing more to fear from IA. Or so he imagines.

Enter Walter Finch, played by Robin Williams; he is the main suspect in the murder, and has also seen the shooting of Hap, or so he informs Dormer. Now the plot will weave around these two, almost exclusively, as they play their game of manipulation and one-upmanship. And here's where the film begins to lose its own compass.

First, I had a bit of a problem with the fact that the two detectives from L.A. were in Alaska to begin with. Supposedly, this is an official trip, but I have trouble believing that the Los Angeles Police Dept would send two of its people to Alaska for such a mundane reason. Yes, it's murder, but the ease with which these two solve the case and pinpoint the murderer is just so fast that it's hard to believe the Alaskans couldn't have done the same, and done it sooner. Second, the character of Ellie Burr, (Hilary Swank) who has made a study of Detective Dormer's work for her academy thesis, is just a little too worshipful. And what a coincidence that she should be there in Nightmute, involved in this case. It's a little too contrived, in my opinion. Hilary Swank, a wonderful actress, is overqualified for the wide-eyed wonderment she portrays here. There's not enough depth in her character to hold your interest.

Third, we never really get a chance to pick apart Finch, Robin Williams' character. We only know a little about him, but nothing essential, and nothing that adds to our understanding of why he committed this foul deed in the first place, or what is driving him to do what he does. We come into this situation, "in the middle" and leave it pretty much the same way when the movie ends. There's a solution, but no enlightenment.

There are two other interesting characters that also tease us into wanting to know more, but never give up any information beyond that: the hotel desk clerk, played by Maura Tierney, and Police Chief Nyback, played by Paul Dooley, are both characters I would have liked to see developed into "whole" people. Especially Tierney's character, who says one of the most fascinating lines in the film, something about how people in Alaska are either born there or are there because they've escaped something a lot worse. With a lead-in like that, it was a shame not to follow up on it.

Mostly, we are treated (?) to extreme closeups of Pacino as he spirals down into his insomniac, ethical black-hole, and teasers of the menace Robin Williams might actually be hiding underneath that parka. In neither case is it enough, or satisfying, and as the film winds down into its inevitable conclusion, we are left with a hollow feeling that we just didn't get enough. We can draw conclusions, but they are not the point; the point is what makes these things happen in the first place, and that's a question that goes unanswered.

Additionally, there are some recurring cut-scenes of the murder itself, which are never explained or illuminated. They appear as memory flashes, but we never see them in their entirety, which is extremely annoying. Overall, the film looked as if it were originally a lot longer, and was edited down to fit its current time. If that's not the case, then it's just too minimalist to make a satisfying story.

The plot is, or could be, a very good one, with a bit more explanation. There is a lot of atmospheric buildup, but in the end, not much suspense or tension for the viewer. The characters tease us with development, never quite making us understand them, or their motives; they feel thinly painted, and shadowy. Not a tour-de-force for director Nolan, though Pacino and Williams give their parts all the nuances they can.

I left wanting more.