Nolan's wild-card?....

Rating: 8/10 (2 December 2014)

Sent from the city to investigate the murder of a teenage girl in Nightmute, a small Alaskan town, a police detective accidentally shoots his own partner while trying to apprehend a suspect.
Instead of admitting his guilt, the detective is given an unexpected alibi, but this "solution" only multiplies the guilt over his partner's death.
He's also still got a murder to solve, in addition to the blackmail and framing of an innocent bystander being orchestrated by the man they were chasing.......
Made just before fan-boys made Nolan into a pseudo cinema god (believe me I love his work, but Memento aside, his earlier work is ignored), Insomnia may be a remake, but my goodness, the three central performances, and the setting, make this almost unmissable cinema.
The main plot is relatively simple, cop accidentally kills his partner, killer sees the act, records his confession, and they strike a deal, but still antagonise each other, but the narrative makes the film all the more interesting, and the guilt factor of this is the fundamental reason why Pacino cannot sleep,the setting just makes the viewer feel that little more disorientated.
The film could beset anywhere to be honest, but setting it in a place where it doesn't get dark, gives it all a slight 'The Wicker Man' feel to it.
Performance wise we all watch it for Williams playing against type, and while he plays a very scary, but empathic sociopath, one does forget the performance of Pacino.
Watching him in the final third always makes me feel a little sluggish, many actors could have gone the way of acting a little inebriated to get the sleep deprived look, but he hits it to a tee, anyone who has ever worked night shifts, will totally feel for Pacino.
Its a really interesting interpretation of a highly original movie, and even though it loses its way toward the final ten minutes, it's still a great thriller.