Summer
is here and that means countless blockbusters, most of which
promise more than they could ever give. What we have to look
forward to is lack of characters, lack of plot, plenty of
eye candy, and mostly PG-13 films because of the audience
that will buy the most tickets at this time of the year. Which
is why Insomnia is such a blessing to adults and movie fans
alike.
Insomnia
is a film about the moral decisions of a detective as he tries
to solve a murder. This detective is Will Dormer (Al Pacino)
and because the murder took place in Alaska during a time
of the year that the sun never sets, Dormer has a bad case
of Insomnia. Along with this we find that Dormer may be in
trouble back at home with internal affairs. All of this builds
up with great tension creating a great feeling before the
killer even shows up on screen. But once he does the plot
gets even more intricate and tense. All of this builds until
the poetic and explosive conclusion.
Insomnia
is director Christopher Nolan's first big studio film. He
took a great deal of notice after last year's sleeper Memento.
It seems he had no trouble adjusting to the more than moderate
budget increase.
Although
Insomnia is on a much grander scale than either of his previous
films, Nolan's touch is still greatly apparent in this film.
Nolan has a great ability to make films that are better viewed
more than just once. A technique that is consistent in all
of his films is showing the audience things early on in the
film that they won't understand until the conclusion. Much
like a jigsaw puzzle, you are given important pieces that
don't fit until the rest of the puzzle is completed.
As well
as fantastic directing, Insomnia owes much of it's success
to a cast full of award winners. Al Pacino is still at the
top of his game with his performance as Will Dormer. Pacino
never comes off cheesy as he could have rather easily playing
someone with insomnia. Instead much of his acting is kept
subtle and entirely believable. It will pain anyone who has
suffered insomnia to sit through this movie because of the
realism in which it is portrayed.
Hilary
Swank and Robin Williams are also fantastic in this film despite
the fact that they seem to have less backstory to develop
a character. Swank is a rookie cop that admires such a distinguished
detective as Dormer. Robin Williams is the chilling killer.
At times he is so convincing about his reasons for killing
her that you start to believe him when he says he is sane.
Much of Insomnia focuses on the methods that Dormer takes
to catch the killer rather than the murder itself. It is a
character study and a thinking film but this does not mean
it is without action. There is enough suspense in Insomnia
to fill two average summer thrillers. Most importantly, Insomnia
is an inteligent thriller, probably the best since Memento,
using less gore to frighten us and more good old fashion suspense.
4.5 out of 5
Ryan
Izay
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