Dumbed down remake of fine Norwegian original

Rating: 3/10 (22 July 2007)

Movie Reviews =============
Insomnia -------- Everything about this remake reeks of an attempt to censor the original Norwegian film. While no masterpiece, the central attraction of the original film is the morally ambiguous central figure. Outwardly a sophisticated metropolitan hero detective who always get his man and who presents an image of virtue and integrity, the real person is very different. Initially we buy into the image of hero, but the more we see how he operates in private the more we begin to doubt his moral integrity. Everything he does after we are initially introduced to him seems to cast further doubt on his character, and it seems that he is sinking into a quagmire partly of his own making. In the end a fortuitous events resolve matters, the crime is solved and the hero leaves town basking in the glory of another success. All the messy details are packed up and swept away.
And so it is of great surprise that the Hollywood remake, like some nasty corporate censor, erases every single act which shows the protagonists moral slide downwards. First of all our expectations are dampened in the remake by making the protagonist not a hero cop, but a cop who is being investigated by internal affairs and sent into 'exile' for various misdeeds in the past. He seems a decent guy, but then his own partner says he is going to inform on him. He admits to out and out framing a criminal in at least one case. This it seems weighs heavily on his mind. This makes him a rather tarnished police officer. We are also not really given any indication of past heroism or why other police officers would look up to him. The original introduces the protagonist as an effective investigator as he takes charge, finds new clues, makes television broadcasts and so on. This is missing in the remake. He remarks as an aside that the murderer has washed the victims's hair, but it doesn't sink in. The introduction ends when the partner is shot and killed and we begin the moral descent.
First we meet a rebellious stroppy teen who wants something 'exciting'. The protagonist gives her an extended and unpleasant grope before showing her the place where the body of her friend was found. In the remake this is deleted and the protagonist plays a game of chicken with an oncoming truck instead, which is stupid, out of character as well as pointless.
Next we meet a dog that is destined to receive the substitute bullet. Our protagonist has killed his partner (by accident) and the bullet will eventually identify him. During a gun battle with the villain, our protagonist by chance finds the villains gun, something he keeps to himself. Having the villain's gun in his possession he shoots something with it, digs out the bullet and replaces it with the one the coroner found. The dog acts as substitute for a human gunshot victim. In the original the shooting of the dog is quite a gruesome episode. In the remake, the dog is already dead! It is a rotting corpse.
As he descends further into the moral quagmire (symbolized by his battle with the sun and inability to sleep) he just about rapes the hotel receptionist. In the remake she has sex with him (which we are left to assume was pleasant and consensual) to stop him from disturbing his neighbours.
And then the protagonist is dead! Villain and protagonist kill each other. The end! The original has a 'hollywood' ending where the villain is dead/caught and everything is back to normal. But the remake removes the Hollywood ending and kills off the protagonist. The horror, the horror!
The remake does have a few redeeming features. The scenery from Alaska is nice and the small town is well presented. The dash over the log filled pond is quite nice. Al Pacino as the protagonist is very good, as is Robin Williams as the villain. Al Pacino though is let to overact, when the protagonist should generally be more understated. The actress who plays the female rookie is also quite good.
The action scenes also do not work in the remake, with the exception of the log chase scene. In the original the protagonist is almost killed in the chase scene. That is deleted. The cable car scene where the protagonist catches up with the villain is brilliant. No action is possible during the cable car and instead they have a 'quiet' chat. One would think that with a Hollywood budget and a Hollywood production they could have at least improved upon the original's rather limited and drab action scenes.