Insomnia

Review by Clint Morris

It's always a big day at the movies when two greats team, and the first-ever teaming of Al Pacino and Robin Williams is no less unexciting.

Yep, Pacino of "I'm so granular it hurts" fame and Williams of "I'm so amusing it tickles" fame - an improbable, but nevertheless,worthwhile combo if ever there was one.

From Memento writer/director Christopher Nolan, Insomnia is another well thought out character piece, this time revolving around a cop and a killer, both with more skeletons in their closet than the Addams Family.

Nightmute, Alaska, and a teenage girl has been found dead. The authorities are called in. Will Dormer (Pacino), a legend in the Los Angeles Police Department, and his partner, Hap (Martin Donovan) are a lot more equipped to deal with the scenario than the local cops, so they dive head first into the investigation.

Tracking down a killer is the sort of thing the L.A. guys are used to doing; what they can't handle is the unremitting Alaskan summer, where it's light at three in the morning. Will is especially affected, to the point where he's raging against the non-dying light.

While chasing after the murder suspect, Will accidentally shoots his partner dead, leaving much doubt of his career. Immediately, he covers it up and decides to make out the killer, too, did this. But the killer was watching, and now he's going to use it as bait against his Will.

Our suspect is Walter Finch (Williams), a hack crime writer, and he's forthright in admitting - at least to Will - that he killed the girl. But he's determined not to be arrested. In his opinion, Will has something to hide too, and he'll keep quiet, but only if Will does the same. So Finch's going to play the cleverest game of cat and mouse with his lying opponent - and at the end of it all Will will hardly be able to keep his eyes open.

Insomnia is one of the more intelligent action thrillers of late. Instead of being another by-the-numbers cop-chases-killer-movie, it delves deeper into the central character's worlds and portrays neither as straight-out good guy or bad guy. Both have their reasons to hide in shame, somewhat.

It's probably Pacino's movie more than Williams, the latter doesn't appear until an hour or so into the movie. But when Williams does appear, he is nothing short of brilliant. You really will believe Robin Williams is a sandwich short of a picnic after this role.

He and Pacino play off one another very well. Williams is laid-back and sinister, Pacino in your face and temperamental. As the young local cop helping the heavies out, Hilary Swank is good too. You could even say she's much more enjoyable to watch than the more challenging roles she likes to take on.

Like Memento, Christopher Nolan deserves most of the film's credit. His script is tight, intriguing and genuinely novel. Just setting the film in the small Alaskan town, and somewhere that only has a few hours of darkness per night is hot-loaf fresh, as is the idea of someone lacking so much sleep they're borderlining on being a nutter themselves. A very novel idea.

Insomnia is not the best film the genre's ever seen - it's still a little ho-hum in spots. But with such terrific actors, breathtaking scenery and novel writing in it's wake, it's not something to dodge, either.

3.5 out of 5

Insomnia
Australian release: Thursday September the 5th
Cast: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan, Nicky Katt, Jonathan Jackson.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
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