When a villain protagonist becomes an anti-hero

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2014)

There is a scene in the original Insomnia where the protagonist (there played by Stellan Skarsgard, in this remake by Al Pacino), desperate to obtain a damaged bullet to tamper with the evidence of an ongoing investigation, approaches a dog in a dark alley and kills it. The remake mimics the scene, except the dog shot by Pacino is dead already. In a nutshell, this shows the difference between the two movies.
Before this sounds like some kind of anti-remake crusade, I'll say Nolan's movie surpasses the Norwegian original from many points of view.
Performances are stronger, led by a nicely low-key turn by Pacino, who reminds us what a great thespian he can be when he isn't hamming it up. The character of the killer is more developed, here aptly played by Robin Williams in one of those creepy clear-eyed, smug-faced turns of his. Dialogues are crisp without getting too cozy, cinematography makes an interesting use of colors and light.
So, where does this thriller - focused on two veteran Homicide detectives searching for a killer in Alaska - goes wrong? It erases most of the moral ambiguity of the original. Skarsgard's dark protagonist was genuinely unsettling - a lost man who quickly sinks to ignominious lows to cover up his own mistakes. Here, Pacino is flawed in a much safer and more traditional way. The extent this remake goes to soften his main character into something more palatable to a mass audience is actually rather amusing in a meta kind of way.
The greatest betrayal, though, is the ending, with the martyred hero redeemed by his own blood who passes the torch to Swank's young idealistic cop with a smile and a moral lesson. From the director of the dangerous and abrasive Memento, it's a real shame.
7,5/10