One of the better film's out there, but not up to Nolan's incredibly high standards

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2010)

I'm one of Christopher Nolan's biggest fans. I think he was best filmmaker in the past decade, and if he continues making highly innovative,different,engrossing and intense films like memento,Batman Begins,TDK and now Inception, he's going to have a claim to be one of the greatest directors of all time. He's certainly on his way there. This film is by no means lacking in creativity, but when you look at Nolan's other works, this is no doubt the odd one out, there is genre subversion with the classic dark noir scenes replaced by omnipresent sunlight. The plot is good,but not great. What really draws you in is Al Pacino showing his greatness as an actor with a brilliant rendition of William Dommer,the title character .A cat-and-mouse game between hero-cop-with- skeletons-in-his-closet-suffering-from-insomnia-and-guilt and criminal- with-ace-up-his-sleeve is intriguing and engaging. But so,Robin William's appearance somehow hurts the movie, who,despite his talent,gives an unusually lackluster performance. The movie then loses its pace and intensity,and I found my attention wandering,something I thought impossible during a Nolan Movie. The 24-day concept is new and refreshing,Hillary Swank also gives a solid performance. The first 1 hour was very promising.
Yet, somewhere in between, the movie loses its intensity, and already lacking Nolan's characteristic incredibly out-of-the-box-theme, it also loses its chance at greatness. Despite that,it's not a bad movie by any stretch. It's definitely worth a watch. Catch it for another stellar performance from one of Hollywood's stalwarts and Nolan's clever cinematography.