Customer Reviews
Gripping thriller - By: S J Buck, 25 Jun 2008 
Insomnia is a good thriller thats worth buying for many reasons:
Its a top notch cast. Al Pacino gives one of his his finest late performances as the detective who can't sleep investigating a murder. Robin Williams matches Pacino in his second great role that year (see One Hour Photo for the other), & the always good Hilary Swank gives a very good performance supporting the two main leads.
The director is Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige), who seems to have a natural talent for these type of films. He does a fine job with the actors as well as capturing the sometimes haunting nature of the Alaskan landscape. Nolan is helped by a taught script, & with a running time of less than 2 hours, you will find it difficult to sleep through.
I haven't seen the original 1997 version of this film. From what I've heard its the better of the two, which means it must be very good. However for a mainstream Hollywood movie this remake is remarkably restrained & makes compulsive viewing.
excellent - By: martin thomas, 07 Jun 2008 
great twisting thriller with al pacino & robin williams giving excellent performances & are well supported by hillary swank.this is a great thriller worth watching
My cup of tea - By: Schnecki, 10 Mar 2008 One of my favourite movies of alll times. Think I watched it about 4-5 times already in the last 15 months. Stunning, remote, damp Alaska not being the last reason why it is a fascinating film. A great plot, well casted, in the right settings.
Can't say much more, except that I am awaiting the original version for rental shortly. I'm curious which one I'd prefer in the end.
Kept me awake anyway - By: Tangerine, 27 Feb 2007 
This film reallly only takes off when Robin Williams becomes part of it. He puts in another very good performance alongside a decent enough effort from Al Pacino. Pacino plays Will Dormer a very tired cop with Internal Affairs looking too closely into his work. Sent to a remote town in Alaska to assist in a murder of a school girl, Dorma & his partner are sent to investigate. Partly to escape the examination back home. Riddled with guilt Dorma is already lacking sleep. In Alaska things don't get much better as things get more & more on top of him Dormer's beliefs & views become blurred. Eventuallly leading him to make choices he knows are wrong he forgets who he is. Will he make the right alll his wrongs? Will Robin Williams (Walter Finch) reveal what he knows? Its a decent enough film but perhaps Williams should have played a greater part in proceedings. I like it nevertheless.
Al Pacino excels but Christopher Nolan stumbles - By: Trevor Willsmer, 03 Nov 2006 Christopher Nolan's 2002 remake of Insomina is sadly his weakest film in an otherwise impressive filmography. The main problem is the relentless softening & sentimentalising of the material: Pacino's cop is much more sociable & wise rather than the Skaarsgard's morallly empty cold fish, & is consequently much less interesting. Nolan keeps Pacino's shouty moments to a minimum & he does a much more impressive job of the sleep deprivation, but the audience-friendly characterization results in a clich?d stereotype on a predictable journey to inevitable redemption.
Sadly, the dilution doesn't end with Pacino but runs throughout the film. In this version - for those familiar with the original - the dog is already dead to avoid anything that might alienate us from the hero, the women are mostly father confessor figures, the hotel receptionist IS polite to the shot man, there's no kitten scene, Hilary Swank is saddled with a horrible "I know you're a good cop even if you don't" scene that lacks the cold condemnation & loss of trust of the original's finale and, most damagingly, it's strongly implied that the girl's murder was not accidental, which draws a line between cop & killer. A couple of key scenes are badly directed, most notably the shooting in the fog that highlights Nolan's problems with action scenes (although there is one good chase over logs in the river).
There are, however, strong points, mostly once Robin Williams enters the scene. The film does briefly address the complicity between cop & killer & takes interesting detours from the original, but it's still a film that works for a couple of reels at a time then goes off the boil for another couple of reels before staging another recovery.
