If you have insomnia, see Insomnia!

Rating: 5/10 (29 May 2002)

My wife and I saw the movie opening weekend. We agreed that "Insomnia" is not the best work of either Pacino nor Williams. We found the plot to be transparent, and some plot elements, e.g., Pacino's reaction to and subsequent behavior to the shooting in the fog, to be unreasonable. To us, the story dragged and we were both muttering, "Hurry Up!"
One can easily name a dozen films featuring Pacino that are worth owning, and several featuring Williams that are treasured library pieces. Unfortunately, "Insomnia" won't be joining them in our library.
Perhaps, the fault is ours, rather than that of the film. How can anyone compare Mr. Williams performance in "Good Will Hunting" or "Dead Poets Society," just to name two, with this film? Were our expectations too high?
We don't really blame the actors as much as the material they were working with. Had we not seen the trailer dozens of times, we might have had different expectations, and consequently, given the film a sightly higher rating of 7/10. As it stands, we agree that it only merits a 5/10.