Pacino, Williams and Nolan - a Great Team Indeed!

Rating: 9/10 (8 October 2008)

This Insomnia, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino and Robin Willaims is a remake of an original Insomnnia movie. I have not been able to see the original movie and hence I cannot draw any comparisons between the original one and this one. But I guess that it is good in one way since I get to think about the movie without any prejudice at all. This movie is one of the most remarkable movies I have seen and indeed showcases Christopher Nolan as an upcoming director.
Robin Williams and Jim Carrey are actors known for their comedy. And another common thing to them is that when they decide to step into roles other comedy, they produce masterpieces indeed. Robin Williams plays the role of an author of crime novels who has also killed a young girl. He has a dark and a negative role and plays a character who is very straightforward and calculative. And boy oh boy, does he manage to convince us in this role. It is one of the best roles of Robin Williams I have seen. I must confess his roles in Bicentennial Man and One Minute Photo and this role are in fact much better than his typical comedy roles. He has showcased some amazing acting skills in this movie.
Al Pacino is of course among the finest actors in the whole world. And needless to say, he delivers all that is expected out of him. He plays the role of a cop with a dark secret of false methodology of conviction with Internal Affairs closing in on him. He ends up killing his partner accidentally but it turns out that his partner was going to help Internal Affairs close in on Pacino. And hence nobody is going to believe that he killed his partner accidentally. And to add to all the trouble, there is Robin Williams' character who knows this secret and is using it to get away. Pacino is the one who is suffering from Insomnia. He is in a country where there is no night and there is no peace in his mind. Have you wondered what it is like to carry a heavy mind craving for the peace of the night? Look at Pacino in this movie! Simply masterpiece acting.
There is a short but very effective role by Hillary Swank as well and she does her part beautifully. She plays the role of a cop who is helping Pacino on the case. She also holds deep respect for Dormer (Pacino) since she has spent her training days studying his cases. Overall, the cast was really good. Christopher Nolan chose a very silent approach in this movie. In some parts of the movie, the overall silence creates the sort of haunting effect needed to create the impact. But the silence does not seem to work in certain scenes and may lead viewer to become disinterested.
There are times in the movie where the pacing tends to get a little slower causing an occasional loss of interest. But overall, this movie is indeed a very well done movie. The team assembled is indeed a great team. It will not disappoint most viewers who have some expectations from a team like Nolan, Pacino and Williams.