Misses the mark somewhat, but a not bad film with Robin Williams shining.

Rating: 5/10 (16 October 2002)

Well, I was unsure about this when I went to see it. When Robin Williams is billed next to Al Pacino, it's very difficult to decide if it's going to work out. However, the concept had me intrigued. The film starts off well, and the tension that Pacino creates with his partner is very tangible, this part of the film is where he really gets something to act with. However, I couldn't help but feel, as the film progressed, it was relying on his weary features to produce the look of an insomniac, rather than his true acting abilities. A few brief moments with the rookie Alaskan cop shows there's still something there, but I think it was the story that confined his acting rather than his acting confining the story.
Robin Williams, however, puts in a wonderful performance. I couldn't see him in this role and I was convinced I'd be thinking about his comic runs. Not once, well maybe not true, but I only thought of them in retrospect. I was totally absorbed by his performance, and you almost are in a dilemma over his situation. He should get more serious roles out of this.
The rest of the cast acts well, but I'm afraid that this may be another case of a Hollywood film ruining a good foreign film, although I have yet to see the original. The suspense is dampened throughout the second half, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Perhaps we are told too much and shown too much in the first half, and you know everything that is going on and why at every turn. Although it is billed that you will be torn as to what is wrong and right, this lasted for a mere instant, as the rights are so obviously more right than the wrongs. I think this is mainly due to the fact that the wrongs are all you are shown and what is played on, and too much of the character in the right is explained from a sympathetic point from the beginning.
Right, enough of this essay. It's a pretty good film, and I know people who really enjoyed it, but unfortunately I feel it failed to project that blurring of wrong and right, and the suspense you would have expected.