Although I haven't seen the original, so I can't compare, Christopher Nolan's Insomnia is a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Al Pacino plays Dormer, an LA cop assigned to a murder case in Alaska. He and his partner, Hap, have been shipped up north until problems with the IA and the homicide/robbery sect of the LAPD have blown over. They're investigating the murder of a 17-year old girl, whose body was found in a garbage dump, and whose killer (Robin Williams) is less a monster and more a clever, wounded man afraid to live up to his mistakes. Then more mistakes are made and things become more complicated. Oh, and the movie is set during the Alaskan summer, so it's always daylight.
What I like most about the movie is the photography - it creates a palpable sense of the cold, foggy, and wet Alaskan summer, and turns the 24-hour daylight into a kind of living hell for Dormer. I like how the movie is more concerned with the atmosphere than it is with the plot itself - it's nice to see. It's very, very impressive. The performances are good, too. Both Pacino and Williams are remarkably restrained, and instead of play up their stardom, they inhabit the lives of two confused, scared men who are in the same boat. Both are terrific.
Unfortunately, the script jumps in to more conventional thriller territory towards the end. The movie's final scene in particular feels false and tacked on. But these are minor problems that should be forgiven for the movie's obsession with atmosphere.
For the purposes of easy reading, if I had to give this movie a rating, I'd give it 3 out of 4 stars.
What I like most about the movie is the photography - it creates a palpable sense of the cold, foggy, and wet Alaskan summer, and turns the 24-hour daylight into a kind of living hell for Dormer. I like how the movie is more concerned with the atmosphere than it is with the plot itself - it's nice to see. It's very, very impressive. The performances are good, too. Both Pacino and Williams are remarkably restrained, and instead of play up their stardom, they inhabit the lives of two confused, scared men who are in the same boat. Both are terrific.
Unfortunately, the script jumps in to more conventional thriller territory towards the end. The movie's final scene in particular feels false and tacked on. But these are minor problems that should be forgiven for the movie's obsession with atmosphere.
For the purposes of easy reading, if I had to give this movie a rating, I'd give it 3 out of 4 stars.
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**** the Lakers!
**** the Lakers!