Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2002

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Ever see a movie that - ok, sure - you thought it was pretty good...but yet, it left you saying, "hmm, wait a minute..."? Glad I'm not the only one who argues with myself. THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) Big City Detectives Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) go to a small Alaskan town on the request of former L.A. cop Charlie Nyback (Paul Dooley) to help him solve a heinous murder of a high school girl there. Dormer and Eckhart have Issues between them that come into play when they corner the top suspect in that murder - local author Walter Finch (Robin Williams). In the confusion of the fog-shrouded beach, Eckhart is killed, and Finch gets away. The problems Dormer left behind in L.A., the guilt he feels over his partner's death, and the drive to catch the girl's murderer, all combine with Dormer's inability to sleep in the land of the Midnight Sun, causing Dormer to slowly lose touch with reality. And of course, there's still the matter of what Finch did or didn't see on that fog-shrouded beach...as well as the investigation into Eckhart's death by local Detective Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank). THE UPSHOT Let me establish three things off the bat: Yes, I know this movie is a remake of an earlier Norwegian movie by the same name; Yes, I do understand the notion of suspension of disbelief. In fact, I speak of that notion extensively in many of my reviews (usually, in the negative; as in "My Disbelief was Suspended so high, David Blaine asked it to jump"); Yes, I agree with The Critics who say it was a good thriller... ...but it's the implied "but" that gives me pause; in this case, that "but" lies in the realism and logistics of the story itself. From the start, I rolled my eyes at the idea of two cops being sent all the way from Ell Lay to Podunkville-of-the-North, to help the local yokels solve a crime; yes, even a Big! Murder!-type crime. I'm sure it's a long-held secret, but even the local yokels in Podunkville, probably took a forensics class or two in cop school. I thought such "big city cops school the dumb hicks" silliness went out with Beverly Hills Cop; guess not. The bigger Issue that I had involves the backstory of the L.A. detectives, but since a dissection of that backstory would give too much spoiler info away, I won't discuss it in depth here. To put it politely, what worked in the original Norwegian film, doesn't translate well here, given American policing problems in Los Angeles, at least as has been widely reported. To be a bit more blunt, I'll just put it this way: if that was the worst "crime" a group of L.A. cops ever committed, there may not have been riots in L.A. a few years back. And if that wasn't clear enough, try this: IA cops were on their tails for that? Give me a friggin' break; those boys would've gotten a medal from that department! [...she said, awaiting the barrage sure to come from L.A. cops and their supporters...] All that said, the main cast and director were excellent. The "Academy Award Winner" triad was terrific (though I couldn't help but to focus on Pacino's apparent hair implants every time his character got a close-up). Robin Williams gave as good as Al Pacino - maybe even better - and Hilary Swank more than held her own, without being relegated to Warm Place To Put It status. And director Christopher Nolan proved that his Memento was no flash-in-the-pan trickery. He moved along the story well, manipulating the beautiful landscape artfully (the water logs scene was brilliant), and bringing out the best performance I've seen from Pacino in years. To see Pacino's Will Dormer slowly come undone in front our eyes as he did...in a word, bravo. Still, I'm unsettled on this film as a whole; maybe I've seen too much of The Shield on FX TV - not to mention The Evening News - to believe in the righteous indignation of L.A. cops any more. BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE Taken as the sum of its parts, Insomnia is a groovy thriller; a solid followup to the memorable Memento by director Christopher "What, No Oscars?" Nolan. Separated into its individual bits, the performances in Insomnia will definitely keep you awake; but a closer inspection of the thin threads on which some of its story line hangs, may make you wish you had nodded off for a wee bit. INSOMNIA:   back to top And that's the way I see it. Rose "Bams" Cooper 3BlackChicks Review™ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2002 EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com    ICQ: 7760005 http://www.3blackchicks.com/