Reviewed by: Joe

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Produced by: Edward L. McDonnell, Andrew A. Kosove, Broderick Johnson, & Paul Junger Witt

Cast: Al Pacino, Hilary Swank, Robin Williams, Martin Donovan, & Nicky Katt

Released: May 24, 2002

Drama 1 hr. 58 min. A sleep-deprived detective is sent to a small Alaskan town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. Forced into a psychological game of cat-and-mouse by the primary suspect, events escalate and the detective finds his own stability dangerously threatened.

The story centers on the investigation of a murder in Alaska and the cat and mouse game that the killer instigates with one of the detectives. When a teenage girl is found murdered in a small town in Alaska, a veteran police detective and his partner are sent up to over-see an official investigation. Just as the two close in on the primary suspect of the murder, the veteran detective accidentally kills his partner in a chase, believing he was the murderer. The detective then lies about the accidental homicide and gets away with it. But he soon finds out that he isn’t the only living soul who saw it happen. The murderer calls up the detective, who is racked with guilt, and plans to blackmail him into letting him go free. Now the veteran police detective must choose what means more to him, his life or his commitment to justice. The story for Insomnia does a wonderful job at dealing with conflicts of the human psyche when it comes to guilt but wasn’t as surprising as Memento was. But this is a small issue as it is hard to follow up to such a critical success was that film was with many critics.

Though the cast of Insomnia represents a wide range of actors and actresses from different performance backgrounds, it doesn’t change the fact that they work perfectly together. Al Pacino in the role of the veteran detective brings the film a sense of seniority, which is a good thing in this case, and plays the character perfectly all the way to the end. He showcases a man truly racked with guilt in such a way that it allows his character to really connect with audience members without giving the end to the feature away. Even though it may seem a weird choice for the role of the killer, Robin Williams gives an impressive performance in this film. The veteran comedian seems to be really be adding up his dramatic performances with roles in other adult-oriented features like One Hour Photo and Death to Smoochy and adds to his impressive resume that includes an Oscar winning performance in Good Will Hunting. Hilary Swank, as good as she could have been in this film, isn’t given much, in the area of material, that allows her to really expand her acting ability.

Overall, despite lacking the suspense and the surprising twists of its predecessor, Memento, Christopher Nolan gives an impressive follow-up with Insomnia that stands above most cop thrillers. The problems lie in the feature’s time-length, which felt longer then it should have been, and its pacing, which seemed dragged down in certain areas. The lack of usable material for smaller characters with the film, like Hilary Swank, was a shame in there was a lot of potential for several enjoyable performances but nothing developed. Other then that, Insomnia gives an engaging view into the human psyche and the effects of guilt on the subconscious combined with amazing dramatic performances from Al Pacino and Robin Williams.