Insomnia
(2002)
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 Hour and 58 Minutes
Reviewer: Dale
Grade: A+"There are two kinds of people in Alaska. Those who were born here and those who moved here to escape from something else. I wasn't born here."
Detectives Dormer and Eckhardt were not born in Alaska. They have been sent to Nightmute, Alaska because Internal Affairs is looking into their busts in Los Angeles and they've been sent to assist in a murder investigation until the heat dies down. After all, where can there be less heat than Alaska? Dormer (Al Pacino) is the sort of cop whose record has made him something of a living legend. When he gets off the plane in Nightmute, local police officer Ellie Burke (Hilary Swank) gushes over meeting him and enthuses over knowing his entire record by heart. She gives Eckhardt only the most cursory glance.
A seventeen year old girl has been beaten to death in Nightmute and Dormer soon channels himself vigorously into the crime. It is in solving these crimes, we sense, in putting scum behind bars, that he truly loses himself. He solves crimes with a passion and a resolve which is truly dazzling. We can see how an officer like Burke would admire him, even from such a distance. We can also see that Eckhardt is more than a little jealous. He has a wife and child, but he will never command the sort of respect that Dormer does. Perhaps this is why he has agreed to testify against Dormer, to tell what he knows to Internal Affairs, to ruin the older man's sterling reputation no matter what the consequences might be to the older man. Dormer is less than thrilled, to say the least. Something unexpected then happens. Dormer finds the man responsible for the murder fairly easily, but there are complications that have him over a barrel. He is in a position that I have never seen another such character in. He is stifled by his own mistake and trying desperately to find his way out of it. The only question is what lengths he will sink to in order to find his way out of a truly sticky situation, and what the murderer (a truly excellent Robin Williams) has on him.
"Insomnia" is an amazing picture. It is better than the director Christopher Nolan's breakthrough effort, "Memento". It needs no gimmicks. No gizmos. It is simply an exhilarating, thrilling, original and haunting film told in a breathless and excellent manner. It is a riveting and provocative film that rushes forward at a quick pace and keeps your heart in your throat for almost the entire running time. The screenplay is an awesome piece of work. It soon becomes apparent that you have never seen a movie like "Insomnia" and, as ballsy as it is, it's unlikely you will ever see one quite like it ever again. It's narrative flow is brilliant. Its characters are mesmerizing and often disturbing and remarkably well-acted. Pacino has, I believe, never been better than he is here. Dormer is a man desperately clinging to past respect. He is a man who is at the end of his rope pretty much when the film begins, but then gets tested even more severely. He is also a man who has not anticipated Alaska's being in a period of twenty-four hour sunlight. He is a man under incredible duress who cannot sleep, no matter what he tries. Nolan is brilliant in the composition of this picture. It is a film noir in which light seems to explode off the screen. Light works its way into every crack. It finds a way into every scene. The production design and photography do an arresting job of emphasizing the light, of making it almost intensely bright. The brightness of the film and beauty of the scenery serve a nice contrast to the darkness of the story and shadowy depths of the characters inhabiting it. As a result, Pacino doesn't seem to be acting. He seems almost palpably haggard. He seems to be wearing this downtrodden character like a second skin. He is amazing here. More unexpectedly, so is Robin Williams. He is simply a revelation here. He portrays Walter Finch as a truly sick fuck, to be sure. But he also causes us to feel almost a sympathy for the man at times. We can almost see the dark secrets lurking behind his eyes which turned him this way. We can sense that he may once have been a decent guy, and that makes his depravity even more disturbing. Its a great performance. Even more of a credit to him is how he seems to hold his own against Pacino in every scene. Swank is also remarkable as the one who admires Pacino, yet doesn't entirely trust him. She is quite great here.
"Insomnia" is a magnificent picture. One of the best I've seen in recent memory. It is excellently acted. It is efficiently put together, more than that, actually. It is shadowy and twisty and without the showiness of so many other films. It has a strong enough story and premise and characters that it doesn't need much of anything else. It is terrific. It is brilliant. It is, to me, even better than Nolan's remarkable "Memento". In short, see it. You won't be sorry.