Excellent Remake Of A Norwegian Thriller

Rating: 9/10 (2 August 2015)

Set in the isolated Alaskan village of Nightmute where daylight and darkness is split six months apart, "Insomnia" tells the tale about the murder of a young girl and assigned to the job are Los Angeles Detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan). Looking frazzled and weary once getting off the plane, Dormer knows trouble awaits him. With internal affairs determined to end his career, the idea of solving a murder in the Alaskan middle of nowhere has gotten this grizzled veteran things can't get any worst. Or can they?
Feeling that all hope is lost, his junior Detective Eckhart is more than propelled to tell internal affairs only to put the old man out pasture with them blackmailing him with immunity much to the chagrin of Dormer. They fly into Nightmute via two-engine prop plane they are assisted by a relatively rookie cop Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank) who's still a bit lacking in experience as a cop.
Following the box office success of his first film "Memento", director Christopher Nolan goes out of his way to make this 1998 Norwegian remake of the same name by Erik Skjoldbjaerg. The original film, for a psychological drama it is powerful, intense and quite heavy-handed in details. This one is is no exception. What's different from most remakes is that "Insomnia" doesn't just lazily redo every scene from beginning and end but instead re-evaluates it making this movie original in its delivery. Pacino's approach seems to be taking his role in a more physical approach as opposed to Stellan Skarsgard's character from the original film. How much more does this man have to endure? The surprise twists really comes to life once the third acts comes into fruition which includes a character we don't really expect coming at us. Like both films, the development is very important only this version fans out quite better as an added bonus, it has more dimension.
Unlike the Norwegian version, this remake revised by original writers Skjoldbjaerg and Nickolaj Frobenius along with scriptwriter Hilary Seitz, the killer comes into the story under a low-prolific way as sort-of a quiet sidekick to Det. Dormer. By now people may have totally overlooked the fact that Robin Williams was in this movie. Here he plays Walter Finch, whom he doesn't admit of being a murderer, even though it was barbaric and violent. Hey, we all slip from time to time don't we? We all deserve a bit of redemption now don't we? Dormer remains restless in a village that barely sees sundown feels like he'sin a precarious situation. By arresting Finch, Dormer will be victim of his own cover. Dormer believes something scheming is going on.
It's obscure that a thriller focuses on moral issues and feelings of shame and guilt, but Nolan doesn't ignore Hollywood requirements that all thrillers doesn't end in an epic shoot-out near the end. There are some memorable exciting scenes like chase across the floating logs and another where a character is drowning underwater. It may be exciting, but was it necessary? Not while the psychological elements are very high I just don't think high-flying action was really needed in this calibre of a film.
Wiiliams and Pacino have great chemistry with each other and the reason for that is because Det. Dormer can visualize his visage to his antagonists in a sea of self-deception. The two contrasting characters are what character-studies are all about. Here we see Dormer, over-whelmed, fatigued, sporting dark circles around his eyes and just lacking in composure. While Finch is the smooth operator here as a guy convinced of his own case. Along with "On Hour Photo" which also was previewed at the Sundance Festival that same year, really shows that even though throughout most his career, Williams starred in mostly comedies, he is also quite able to play dramatic roles quite convincingly.
Why Nolan took the liberty to direct this remake was that "Memento" was truly a one of a kind. Attempting to make another film like that could be tiresome. "Insomnia" is film that shows even crime can happen even in the most remote places in the world making this film all the more original. It also shows that many eyes are onto Pacino's character, no matter where he is, paranoia is everywhere leaving him with very few to trust and few to seek reassurance.