A great psychological thriller, a must-see for Pacino fans

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2009)

Since the release of "Memento" (which I honestly haven't seen yet) Christopher Nolan has become a rising star in the world of film directing. And he finally shined with both "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" which revitalized the Batman character and established it as the most popular and even putting him above Spider-man. The fact is, Nolan is among the greatest film-makers in the world and he is going to keep making new classics for the years to come, and I'm already looking forward to "Inception" in 2010. In 2002, he directed a remake of the Norweigian film of the same name called "Insomnia", and I gotta say, it's the best psychological thriller I've ever seen and it even surpasses "The Silence of the Lambs" big time.
The premise-A highly known and highly accomplished Los Angeles detective named Will Dormer (Al Pacino) is sent to a town in Alaska to solve a murder case involving a 17 year old girl. But his partner Hap, just revealed to him that he's planning on testifying against him because he knows about Dormer planting evidence to gain a conviction on a previous case. And all that guilt, fear and the midnight sun that is constantly shining sends Dormer a whole week of no sleep (insomnia). And Dormer starts to lose his concentration and his reasoning.
Al Pacino has been known for dominating every movie he's in and stealing the show from the other actors and he totally does that in here. And it also seems that he was perfectly cast in here because he has the look of a guy who hasn't slept in days. And that might be due to his facial appearance with the dark circles under his eyes and his wrinkled face and he even looks tired the moment he gets off the plane at the beginning. And the more days that pass, he looks more and more fatigued. And I wonder if Pacino really kept himself awake during filming or if he's really that good as a method actor. Although fatigue is the main emotion that he demonstrates here, his feeling of guilt is masterfully shown after he accidentally kills his partner in the thick fog while they're chasing the killer. And we, as the audience wonder if it was really a mistake, or if he shot him on purpose to shut his partner up and prevent his testimony. And Dormer even does some extreme measures to cover up what really happened. At the end, the question is never answered and we're left wondering about his morality and how ethical of a cop he really is. And also the scene when he confronts the victim's boyfriend (whose a smart-mouth, always doing his "f**k the world act") and he really shuts him up. I personally thought that was pretty darn cool and he really fits into the mind of Will Dormer and gives one of his finest performances ever.
Robin Williams, who plays as the girl's killer, is known for doing comedy roles and he should start listening to everyone's advice and stick to doing dramatic or serious roles, because he is WAY better when he's doing the kind of acting he does in "Insomnia". He actually doesn't start showing his face until about half-way through the movie and spends the first half either hiding his face or giving sinister, yet strangely non-threatening phone calls to Dormer. And it turns out that he saw Dormer shoot his partner and spends the rest of the movie blackmailing him and forces him to pin the murder of the girl on someone else.
Hilary Swank gives perhaps the 2nd best acting performance and once again, Nolan casted her perfectly as the detective who idolizes Dormer. I guess it has to do something with the way Swank's mannerisms are like. And she's totally believable as the character who looks up to Dormer and she seems like she wants to impress him all the time. And she cuts Dormer some slack even though he gives a vague explanation for an incident involving an officers death.
Having a trio of former Oscar winners really helped the film here, and also was the masterful direction of Nolan, he makes the scenery of Alaska somewhat peaceful, yet disturbing. And as all psychological thrillers go...u have to keep the suspense and tension going though the whole move....otherwise, what's the point? At first, you can feel the tension between Dormer and his partner, and then between Dormer and the killer.
This is simply the best psycho-thriller I've ever seen, and if you think that "The Silence of the Lambs" was something, wait 'till you see this!