Rating:
Home   |   Foreign Films   |   Books   |   Soundtracks   |   Previews   |   Biographies   |   Articles   |   Contributors   |   Contact
  Richard
  
Attwood
Insomnia
USA, 2002
[Christopher Nolan]
Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank
Crime / Thriller
  
After his second film gradually built enough momentum to be considered a cult hit, anticipation for Chris Nolan�s follow-up to Memento was pretty high. Expectations were that, like Singer did following his personal project The Usual Suspects, this guy was talented enough to keep producing quality work. His choice of project was well suited to him, remaking a Norwegian police thriller with Al Pacino as the flawed lead character. However he then went and cast Mork as a child-killer.

His department under increasing scrutiny from Internal Affairs, Detective Dormer (Pacino) and his partner are assigned to help the local law enforcement of Alaska to find the killer of a year old girl. His partner is feeling the heat more than Dormer and confesses that he is thinking of striking a deal with I.A., perhaps incriminating Dormer in the process. Meanwhile a clever trap is laid for the killer, but the police operation goes tragically wrong and the detective finds himself under even more pressure to track down his suspect.

Nolan lives up to the expectation with his thoughtful approach to the genre. Insomnia is way ahead of most of the recent generic crime thrillers, mainly due to the indistinct line drawn between Pacino and Williams which leaves you questioning whether the main protagonist is worthy of your empathy or not. This was also the case with the amnesiac lead in
Memento, while another trick that is common to both films is the confusion of the senses, with Memento�s extended flashback replaced by the Alaskan permanent summer daylight which Dormer blames for his lack of sleep (although guilt seems to play a big part too).

Al Pacino is allowed to do some of his best work of late, portraying an increasingly weary cop who is unsure of his own motivations. Williams is also surprisingly good as an emotionally disconnected killer, not a serial monster but someone who killed in rage and is trying to understand his own lack of guilt. Despite the strength of the leads, the other characters are fleshed out nicely, with a few key lines revealing something of themselves rather than being relegated to cardboard cutouts.

Although clearly above average,
Insomnia is also below the benchmark for modern crime thrillers, Se7en, despite stealing the scenes of a chase of the cloaked killer through obscuring weather and his subsequent early, but voluntary, unveiling. I found the pace slowed a little too much in the middle act, perhaps the plot needed one more revelation or twist to boost my attention before the finale. But that is just being picky for what is a very successful and important step in what looks like being a good career for the director.
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1