Good, but could've been great.

Rating: 7/10 (15 August 2002)

Let me begin by saying I enjoyed Insomnia, and I recommend seeing it. The story, the twists, the camera work, the sound, the direction is all top notch, but what hurts the movie is bad casting and mediocre acting. Except for Al Pacino. I think we take our great actors for granted sometimes. Like here, Al Pacino gives a great performance, but he always gives a great performance, and I think we just expect it. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast (except for Paul Dooley as the police chief) phone in their performances. It's not that Robin Williams, Hillary Swank and Maura Tierney's performances are bad, it's just that they're mediocre and it detracts from an otherwise very interesting story. Part of this problem stems from the characters themselves as written, because they are very formulaic and un-interesting. Even Robin Williams as the killer is pretty boring, which is something I thought I would ever say about him. Let's face it, the killer always makes or breaks this style of film, ala Silence of The Lambs. So if we as an audience don't despise the 'bad guy' it's difficult to get emotional about the movie, and Williams doesn't do much here to have the audience hate him. His character is more like a fly that keeps buzzing around your face that you want to swat away. I won't go into the plot of the movie because a lot of the comments here have already done that, but as I said earlier I think the plot and side-stories here are very interesting and Christopher Nolan, the director, does a great job of conveying through the camera, what it must be like to have insomnia. The photography and scenes of the Alaskan landscapes are some of the best I've ever seen. The score was also very well done. I believe we have a lot to look forward to from Mr. Nolan in the future. Based on the story, the technical aspects, the direction and Al Pacino's performance I rate Insomnia 8 out of 10, only because IMDB doesn't allow me to vote 7.5.