"Insomnia" is not as disappointing as Memento, but it still is!

Rating: Null/10 (12 October 2002)

Christopher Nolan, director of the mediocre and overrated "Memento", brings us `Insomnia'. A thriller featuring three Oscar winning actors: Al Pacino (Scent of a woman), Robin William (Good Will Hunting) and Hilary Swank (Boys don't cry).
"Insomnia" tells the story of detective Will Dorner (Al Pacino) who is sent along with his friend (Martin Donovan) to a small town in Alaska to solve the murder of a teenage girl. Although it's a murder that might be investigated by the local police forces, Dormer has problems with LA police department due to his excessive obsession to catch the criminals. His outstanding skills lead him to the Criminal; however, as soon as he captures the criminal a sequence of unexpected events leads him to make a great mistake. The criminal is the only one who finds out about his mistake and escapes without being caught. After these unexpected events the detective starts to be hunted by whom his prey was minutes earlier. His remorse because of his deadly mistake and the murderer's subsequent blackmails make Dormer a person who can't get to sleep at all. His insomnia is presented as a metaphor with the white and beautiful night of Alaska, where all is illuminated, blurred and confusing. The camera work and the soundtrack make the viewer get into the character's shoes, who loses his sense of reality because of his sleeping shortage.
All the performances are good, but I've never liked Robin Williams because he's always making fun of people and the human body and I can't stand this at all. The actor who really stands out as usual is one of my favorite actors, Martin Donovan. If you want to see his best performance watch my favorite movie "The Portrait of a Lady", where he delivered a perfect portrayal, as Isabel Archer's sickly and admiring cousin.

Overall, the movie was not what I expected. I can't say I liked it, but I can say that the title "Insomnia" was original and fitting to the movie. I thought the movie would be dark and dramatic, but it wasn't. It was really simple with a terribly predictable ending. Other than the title there is nothing that should interest you in seeing this. 4/10