When is Hollywood going to grow some balls?
For the third time this year (following
Training Day
and Minority Report) an otherwise outstanding
police thriller is compromised by a morally unambiguous resolution just so
Joe Shmo from Idaho doesn't get a headache trying to figure out who's good
and who's bad. What is the point of teasing the audience with the promise
of a challenging moral dilemma, then spelling The "Right Thing To Do" out to
us in big black and white letters instead of letting us decide for
ourselves? Did the makers of these films never watch
Se7en
or The Wicker Man or the director's cut of
Blade Runner?
Did they not realise from these
how satisfying a film can be when the usual "good guy wins, bad guy loses"
formula is turned upside down? Insomnia had the potential to join the above
mentioned and emerge as a masterpiece. Instead it has to settle for simply
being very good.
Insomnia is a remake of a 1997 Norwegian film of the same name, with the
action now taking place in a small town in Alaska. When a young girl is
found beaten to death, two big city cops (Pacino and Donovan) are brought
in from Los Angeles to investigate. They arrive under a cloud, however, with
their department under scrutiny by Internal Affairs over possible
investigational irregularities and evidence tampering. It transpires Hap
(Donovan) is ready to cut a deal with the IAD to protect himself and Dormer
(Pacino) is far from happy with this. This conflict serves as an intriguing
background to the events that follow as, during the course of the murder
inquiry, a tragic incident leaves an officer dead.
On to the scene comes Williams' character, Finch and he soon reveals
himself to Dormer to be the girl's murderer. But Finch has the upper hand
on Dormer as he witnessed the incident that lead to the policeman's death.
Were Dormer to arrest him, he would reveal the truth - a truth with far
reaching implications. So begins a cat and mouse battle of wills between
Dormer and Finch.The other kicker is that in Alaska during summer, it never
gets dark. Partly because of this - and partly because of his own demons -
Dormer can't get any sleep. After a couple of sleepless nights, this begins
to have a serious effect on his physical and mental well being, and his
ability to do his job properly.
There's a lot to admire in this film. Stunning cinematography, an
intelligent if eventually formulaic script, and outstanding performances.
Williams, clearly keen to re-establish himself as a respected actor after
receiving heavy criticism for his recent sentimental slices of nonsense
such as Bicentennial Man and Patch Adams, is excellent in what is obviously
his best performance since
Good Will Hunting,
and possibly his best ever.
Pacino however, is simply mesmerising. Many of his recent performances have
been based around a lot of shouting and arm waving, but here he delivers a
restrained, subtle portrayal of a good cop full of wisdom and the best
intentions, caught up in events spiralling out of his control. There are
several moments when he displays an intensity not seen since the first two
Godfather films, and one look in particular that he levels at Hap that
chills the blood. Credit must go to director Nolan for keeping him on a
tight rein and for following up his much admired Memento with another
absorbing, if ultimately flawed, crime drama.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
