Robin Williams Out Of Character In A Movie With Too Many Flaws

Rating: 3/10 (5 December 2002)

I had been intrigued by this movie from the time it first appeared, largely because I was curious to see how well Robin Williams would handle a straight dramatic role. Simply put, he was all right, but the movie itself was rather weak and uninspired.
The first thing I wondered about was the premise. A teenage girl is murdered in a place called Nightmute, Alaska, and the local police department there calls upon the LAPD for assistance, who end up sending two detectives to help out - Dormer (Al Pacino) and Eckhardt (Martin Donovan). They have no detectives in Alaska? I mean I'm sure that murder isn't especially common up there but they had no one who could help? The cities of Anchorage or Juneau wouldn't have had a detective who knew something about murder investigations? I just thought that whole idea was problematic.
Second problem was the characters themselves. Frankly speaking, there wasn't a single likeable character in the whole movie. There was no one to root for. There was killer Finch (Williams), irritating hero-worshiping local Alaska cop Ellie (Hilary Swank) - no wonder they had to go out of state - corrupt Dormer (Pacino) and his squealing partner Eckhardt (Donovan.) Is there anyone here to feel sympathy with? NO!
Third problem was the storyline revolving around the title. Yes, Pacino has the right look for a guy who's gone 6 days without sleep. But so what? The movie would have worked just as well if Dormer had been well rested, but we have to have this story about how it's hard to sleep when one first goes to Alaska in the summer because the sun is always up. OK. That's exciting.
Anything good about this movie? Well, the opening musical score was quite good and really drew me in (until the movie actually started anyway); it sets the tone quite well for a suspense cop thriller. Problem is there's not a lot of suspense or thrills coming up. And Williams came across well in this very out of character role for him. Unfortunately, it just isn't a very good movie.
3/10