How about a 2:30 AM screening?

Rating: 8/10 (29 May 2002)

There's trouble in tinsel town and an internal investigation is the real motive behind transporting two detectives from L.A. to Nightmute, Alaska to help on a murder case. Veteran detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are under suspicion of major mischief and having the inside scoop, respectively. And that also impacts the dynamic between them.
Rookie detective Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank) is sent to help thaw them out from their harrowing ride from sunny California to Nightmute. She's clearly star struck with Will ever since she studied his landmark cases in the academy and follows his lead, which almost takes her life.
With this collection of Oscar Winners (Pacino, Swank, Williams), you know that we've either got a runaway winner or a complete snoozer. Director Christopher Nolan prevents the latter but the former is never really achieved. Ellie tells Will, "Good cops can't sleep because they're missing a piece of the puzzle; bad cops because their conscience." Presumably, it was from Will's own pen, but by the fourth day of sleeplessness, he can't remember much of anything. He's can't tell the good guys from the bad ones and he surely doubts his own innocence.
This one may make money at the box office but it's flawed. You will feel Will's agony growing throughout. You will suspect his motives as the days blur on. You will sense Ellie's instincts overtaking her admiration as the evidence mounts. You will love the mentoring role Will plays for Ellie without crossing the bounds of professionalism. His urgings for her to pay attention to the small stuff will help undermine him in the end.
But Pacino and Williams make strange bedfellows. We see no synergy and instead, there's less to this combination than the sum of their parts. Nevertheless, it's a good story with strong performances and scary sequences.
Now let me rest.