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From Amazon.co.uk
Evading the heat of an Internal Affairs investigation, Los Angeles hotshot homicide cop Dormer (Pacino) flies north to Alaska to dig into the murder of a local girl--but a botched trap for the killer leads to a foggy shoot-out that goes wrong. This leads to an alliance between the cop and the killer, who offers Dorma a nasty bargain. Making the situation worse is the fact that Dormer can't sleep, his body clock thrown off by the 24-hour thin sunlight of the town of Nightmute, which affords Pacino a chance to crawl deeply inside a flawed hero on the point of cracking up. There's one terrific chase scene, with two clumsy middle-aged guys, leading to an intense and memorable peril. It slightly over-eggs the original story, with a Hollywooden tinge, but it's still compelling, grown-up drama. --Kim Newman
On the DVD: Insomnia offers a wealth of DVD special features, most of which can be found inside the "Production Diaries", including a splendid making-of featurette filled with great cinematography and a haunting soundtrack. There is also an interesting documentary short on insomnia the condition, relating the problems sleep deprivation can cause. The commentaries take a new angle by asking relevant cast and crew members to comment on a scene specific to them rather than listening to the whole film with a commentary, which is refreshing and a concise way of providing the information. --Nikki Disney
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Customer Reviews
Sadly, the dilution doesn't end with Pacino but runs throughout the film. In this version - for those familiar with the original - the dog is already dead to avoid anything that might alienate us from the hero, the women are mostly father confessor figures, the hotel receptionist IS polite to the shot man, there's no kitten scene, Hilary Swank is saddled with a horrible "I know you're a good cop even if you don't" scene that lacks the cold condemnation and loss of trust of the original's finale and, most damagingly, it's strongly implied that the girl's murder was not accidental, which draws a line between cop and killer. A couple of key scenes are badly directed, most notably the shooting in the fog that highlights Nolan's problems with action scenes (although there is one good chase over logs in the river).
There are, however, strong points, mostly once Robin Williams enters the scene. The film does briefly address the complicity between cop and killer and takes interesting detours from the original, but it's still a film that works for a couple of reels at a time then goes off the boil for another couple of reels before staging another recovery.
I watch and own a huge number of films and can sit through most
dross. My ratings are based on my personal response to films,not
any standard of quality. Therefore:
1 star : So awful I walked out/switched off/fell asleep
2 stars: I managed to watch all of it, but it was painful
3 stars: It's OK - quite good, but I probably wouldn't watch it again
4 stars: It's good and/or enjoyable. I could happily watch it again
5 stars: These are special. My desert island films
A truly excellent thriller.
A U.S. remake of a Norwegian film, it's roots show.
Tense, twitchy and enthralling.Fantastic performances, potent settings, great script and direction.
Pacino plays an L.A. cop hiding from his own guilt while investigating the death of a girl in Alaska.
Robin Williams is chillingly convincing as the manipulative bad man.
Will be in any serious film fan's collection.
Highly recommended indeed.
Insomnia is directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Erik Skjoldbjærg and Nikolaj Frobenius (1997... Read more
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