Thriller-Veteran cop Will Dormer has just traveled to Alaska to help solve a case of a murdered teen. He travels with his partner Hap Eckhart. As he's there, Hap argues with Will about the controversy and they get mad at each other. After they get to a cabin where the killer is supposed to be, Will accidently kills Hap. By the way, it's summer in Alaska and Will can't get sleep. Will gets calls from the killer, Walter Finch, who knows that Will killed Hap. From then on, Will must be tangled in his lies while staying alive.
Rater #1
Has not seen movie
Rater #2
7/10. Christopher Nolan's Insomnia is a sometimes taut but always
entertaining thriller. If you have seen his earlier project Memento,
you can see obvious references to it, such as the mellow music and
the quick flashbacks.
Insomnia stars Al Pacino as a veteran L.A. cop who is sent to
Nitemute, Alaska with his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) to
solve the murder of Kay Connell. Up in Nitemute, it's summer and the
sun doesn't set, causing problems sleep-wise for Pacino's character
Will Dormer (Dormer, and forms of it, mean "sleep" in many
languages). However, while trying to solve the murder, he
accidentally shoots and kills Hap, while still being sleep deprived.
Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank), an excited cop in Alaska, is now on the
shooting of Hap, which everyone believes to be the killer of Kay.
Soon, Walter Finch (Robin Williams), calls Will during his sleepless
nights, commenting that he saw Will shoot his partner. Of course,
that means that Finch is the killer, but how is Will going to prove
that, because "You only know because I told you."
Don't go into Insomnia looking for a thrill-a-minute. There's a few
tense scenes, like the fog, the log chase scene, and the ending, for
sure, but it's awfully hard to enjoy them as much since Nolan uses
such quick cuts, it makes it look like Blair Witch 3. Each scene
could have been done in 40,000 takes, and it looks it. I found it
rather nauseating. What I didn't find nauseating, however, was the
acting. Pacino was excellent as Dormer, and so was Williams, with
three movies in 2002, even though he didn't have much screen time,
and was billed second.
Maura Tierney plays a hotel clerk-waitress person in the hotel Will
and Hap stay at, and she eventually becomes important. Jonathan
Jackson was Kay's boyfriend and is being framed for the murder.
Although it thinks of itself of being confusing, it actually isn't.
Well, not at least until the whole 9MM thing comes around. I really
wish that they could have played the insomnia theme more. About the
only thing it was good for was a quick jump and to fill some time. If
it had been a major point, like Leonard's loss of short-term memory
in Memento, it would have worked. Maybe, however, Nolan wanted to
steer away from his other movie. I would suggest seeing Insomnia, but
don't set you scopes too high.
