More unengaging style from Christopher Nolan

Rating: Null/10 (2 September 2002)

Take a fashionable and ambitious director with potential, add a couple of Hollywood stars looking to repair their reputations with some indie kudos, apply to a re-make of an obscure Scandinavian film and then liberally add producers (about nine in this case, including Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh) and what do you get? A slickly constructed thriller with nearly enough artistic flourishes to distract you from how hackneyed the story is.
Insomnia is the third film from Christopher Nolan, the director of the clever but somehow unsatisfying Memento. It follows a heroic detective, played by Al Pacino, who is sent to Alaska to find a child killer whilst internal affairs are searching for the skeletons in his closet back in Los Angeles. Needless to say he ends up buried in a sea of adoration by a rookie cop, in a battle of wits with the killer and unable to get a moment of sleep because of the permanent daylight.
The film is centred around a 'low key' performance from Oscar winner Al Pacino, but even though he stops emphasizing every single syllable of every single word he utters like his life depends on it, his permanently wired expression screams louder than a Beatles audience at Shea Stadium. Because of this we don't sympathize with his inability to sleep but wonder when the last time the caffeine freak actually managed to sit still for a moment.
The supporting cast is just as quirky and unengaging. Oscar winner Hillary Swank sticks to Pacino as if she if afraid she will be edited out of the movie, but apart from managing the incredible feat of simultaneously pouting and grinning throughout due to her bee sting lips, does little to grab the attention. As the killer, Oscar winner (are we spotting a pattern in the casting yet?) Robin Williams seems to bait Pacino throughout not only by framing his character but also being able to appear in a scene without desperately trying to steal it.
There is no doubt that this trio can turn in great performances, it's just that the film threatens to turn into a "I can do internal emotions better than you can" competition at a method acting convention. However even if you don't empathize with the characters there is still fun to be had watching an expert going through their paces.
Insomnia is visually striking, but often in derivative ways. The opening sequence of the Shining is aped every time a character starts driving a car and the old Sergio Leone motif of the slowly unfurling flashback snippet rears it's head. This just compounds the feeling that Insomnia is somehow less the sum of it's parts. Despite this signs of potential abound and many will be satisfied by the films abundance of style alone, however we are still waiting for Christopher Nolan to make a truly moving film.
6/10