Insomnia (2002) starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan, Paul Dooley, Nicky Katt directed by Christopher Nolan Movie Review

Insomnia (2002)   4/54/54/54/54/5

Certificate

15

Length

118 mins

Director

Cast


Al Pacino as Will Dormer in Insomnia (2002)

Sleepless in Nightmute

Whilst very much aware that "Insomnia" is a Hollywood remake of a Norwegian movie I am yet to see the original and can't commentate on how similar or different the movies are. What I can say is that the 2002 version of "Insomnia" is a clever detective thriller played out in the frozen North where there is no respite from the light. The element of being light all the time is just one of the elements which makes "Insomnia" interesting another is watching Robin Williams play a serious character and then there is director Christopher Nolan and award winning actors Al Pacino and Hilary Swank as well. All of these elements, actors, director and a clever storyline come together to deliver almost 2 hours of entertaining thriller.

Escaping the heat of an Internal Affairs Investigation in L.A. detectives Dormer (Al Pacino - Any Given Sunday) and Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are sent to the Alaskan town of Nightmute to help solve the murder of a teen. Throwing himself straight in to the case Dormer finds he has a fan in local detective Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank - Boys Don't Cry) who has studied him and hangs on every word as he spots things that no one else noticed. But with the sun never setting leaving him exhausted and discovering that when they get back Eckhart is going to cut a deal with I.A. Dormer's judgement becomes clouded leading to an accident on a foggy beach as they think they have the teen's killer. The accident leaves Eckhart dead having been shot by Dormer who saw a shape in the fog and shot, not only does Dormer try to cover up what he did but finds out that the teen girls killer saw everything and now plans to blackmail him into helping him get away with murder.

Hilary Swank as Ellie Burr in Insomnia (2002)

Right from the outset director Christopher Nolan goes into story mode so that what may first appear like a stunning looking opening as we fly over the frozen North is already establishing that detective Dormer is already tired thanks to the I.A. investigation going on in L.A.. And whilst "Insomnia" never becomes heavy going or overly complicated it is a continual stream of story and character building from establishing that local detective Ellie knows her facts when it comes to Dormer to the slow deterioration of Dormer's judgement as he struggles from sleep deprivation an element which is not only brilliantly acted by Al Pacino but also well visualized as we see what he sees as he doesn't fully take things in and is distracted by noises.

What this means is that whilst we have this interesting story of Dormer accidentally shooting his partner, having a motive to do so, being blackmailed by the killer they were after and having to deal with smart cookie Ellie it is all about the character Dormer and his judgement and sometimes lack of it. In fact once the set up was in place of Walter Finch trying to control Dormer my interest in whether anyone gets away with murder was pretty much gone and was more interested in watching how Dormer will handle the pressure and lack of sleep.

And that is the thing about "Insomnia" because it is very much a movie about one character and Al Pacino's performance because unlike Christopher Nolan's previous movie "Memento" is relatively straight forwards. But what a fantastic performance from Al Pacino to drive it forwards, sharp as a cookie early on as he sets about picking up on the evidence that local cops will have missed whilst restraining that typical moment of shouting which you know will come at some point. And then there is the deterioration, the physical destruction as his body becomes more and more hunched and his face drawn. But it is more than physical because we also have Pacino giving us the loss of clarity, the staring into the distance as he struggles to compute what people are saying too him. Having personally gone almost 72 hours without sleep that feeling of exhaustion and sickness radiated from Pacino's performance.

Pacino's performance whilst the standout one is not the only good one and Hilary Swank is solid and confidant in the scenes she shares with Pacino. And then there is Robin Williams which at the time of release was the start of him switching from comedy to drama and Williams as Walter Finch does a nice job of playing it straight but just with enough natural humour of a man who thinks he has the upper hand.

What this all boils down to is that "Insomnia" has a tight story and some great performances as well as solid direction from Christopher Nolan. But the real reason to watch is to watch Pacino's stand out performance as a man suffering from sleep deprivation and the clouded judgement which comes with it.


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