Solid film with numerous basic stand out aspects such as acting, cinematography and script but it does do a little more than you think.

Rating: 7/10 (4 September 2007)

I'm not sure what surprised me more, the fact that this was actually a remake of a Scandinavian film or the fact that deep down, Insomnia is a really smart and classy thriller. There are so many examples of thrillers from recent years that get into a groove of good guy, bad guy, love interest and rely on their special effects and stunts to pull it home. In Insomnia, these things are toyed with a little and what with a few other well made and thought through conventions, it makes Insomnia rather enjoyable.
After you get the customary set up which reminded me of The Silence of the Lambs what with the police agent acting as a fish out of water (Academy to the Frontline in The Silence's case  Los Angeles to freezing, backwater town in this case) brought in to track a murderer whilst having the plot involve a rookie female of some sort. What's clever here is that we know as much as the police do from very early on but as secrets and situations arise, the path we go down with Will Dormer (Pacino) is as decisive as it is enthralling. Insomnia is a really well shot film  its use of the Alaskan setting through long, external shots and the way it portrays inside settings as so 'in-between' light and dark are really good. The fact the town he's in is almost always engulfed by light at the time of his visit acts as a fabulous device.
Where Insomnia breaks away from the standard thriller is when it toys with the prospect of role reversal. After Dormer gets a call from Walter Finch (Williams) who's assumed to be a murder suspect since it was him running from a set up and it was him who has 'one up' on Dormer for events you'll discover, the film moves into a period of about thirty minutes revolving around Finch proving his 'innocence' that the death was an accident and Dormer becoming more and more besieged by guilt and the blackmail Finch has on him. It's almost as if Finch is now the OK guy and Dormer is the one who has done bad and this is emphasised through the way he sees the world: he's starting to see everything in a distorted manner, he's having to tidy up his mistake by covering his tracks; something a murderer would have to do as well as come up with alibis. He's also failing to sleep at night and at one point is mocked by Finch for 'breaking his record'. This is Dormer entering the killer's mindset and it's done really well, having an interesting spin on things.
I suppose the reason Insomnia's such a well made and effective thriller is that its director is Christopher Nolan who pays attention to fine detail. The way the editing becomes a little erratic and you could say 'slack' but I think it's for a reason  heads are in different positions as reverse shots are displayed during conversations (like on the ferry) and it becomes quite abrupt, emphasising the lack of sleep Dormer's had. Like I said, the film does play around with who's 'good', who's evil and who's being pinned as evil when really maybe they're not and Hilary Swank's character of Ellie Burr is perhaps a little more than a supporting character when you think about it. Despite all the manipulation, the 'order' is eventually restored so that felt a little disappointing as I felt the film set itself up nicely for a twist of some sort.
Make no mistake, Insomnia is well made and has made me curious as to what the original is like. I can just imagine Stellan Skarsgård running around an icy Scandinavian country dealing with the things that happens in this narrative. For maximum effect, watch the film late at night when you've got that feeling that you just know you'll be tired in about an hour and half but you start the film anyway.