cinemajesty
Movie Review: "Insomnia" (2002)Christopher Nolan, at age 31, finally receiving his Hollywood ticket to the major league at Warner Bros. Pictures in spring 2001 after making "furore" with memorable independent thriller "Memento" starring Guy Pearce to be adviced to direct star-actor Al Pacino, reviving inspector-seeking-the-truth genre hits as "Serpico" (1973) directed by Sidney Lumet or "Sea of Love" (1989) directed by Harold Becker and unusual intensely-dark playing Robin Williams (1951-2014) to full mind binding nemesis character confrontations of two stunning staccato-cut on-foot chase sequences in frozen, exotic blue/white reflecting glaciers in further highly-atmospheric on-set exteriors locations in Alaska, USA and British Columbia, Canada; when executive producers Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney in favors for a Warner Bros. remake of a rarely-known less accomplished original thriller from 1997 starring Stellan Skarsgard as sleepless delusional inspector Jonas Engström under the lucky-strike direction by Erik Skjoldbjaerg, realized at age 32, where Christopher Nolan exceeds the original with an entrusted group of production crew key people as cinematographer Wally Pfister and score composer David Julyan to deliver more than necessary coverage in a rather comfortable 10-week-period of principal photography in summer 2001 for an unusual late release in May 24th 2002 with the director's final-cut-denial clause due to respect to editor Dody Dorn, who lets supporting acting on high convictions running actress Hilary Swank become the furture star-actress to be fulfilled as streetwise femal boxer in Clint Eastwood directed Academy-Award-winning picture "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) also distributed by Warner Bros. Studios. © 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend
(Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)
ferdinandfoldvik
The first 40 min. of this film is goddamn fantastic! Se7en (1995) has been my favourite movie for a LONG time. And for a while, nothing could take it's place. But Insomnia (2002) is even BETTER that Se7en!
The story is about homicide detective Will Dormer (Pacino), and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) going to a suburban Alaskan town, to investigate the murder of a 17 year old girl. After meeting with the fresh, young detective Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank), and stopping at a local hotel, they start investigating the corpse. They find out that she had been beaten to death. And that the killer clipped her nails and washed her hair. After a while, they start investigating a cabin in the woods. Then a mysterious man with a raincoat, starts walking to the cabin. After screwing up with a megaphone, The mysterious man gets afraid that he is being tailed and Dormer and a team of the local police, tries to hunt him down. They run inside the cabin and split up. They find out that the man has escaped down to a beach, near his house. Dormer then hunt's him down to the beach. The beach is FILLED with blue fog, making it really hard to see. Dormer meets up with his team, and then one of them gets shot. Dormer then tries to chase down the man, and shoots him. Due to Dormer's limited vision in the fog, he shoots his partner, Hap instead, and the mysterious man gets away. Hap dies and, Dormer tries to cover it up. Kay (the 17 year old girl) was beaten up by her boyfriend (Rick or Ricky). They interrogated Rick for answers but they didn't get any (this is before Dormer shot Hap). There is more to discuss but, I could go on for hours about this film.
Mike_Devine
Al Pacino is one of the greatest character actors in the past 40 years, and while not every one of his films have been met with the same level of success, he still tries to give it his all regardless. His performance in 'Insomnia' is a good example of this.The film finds him as an LAPD detective who is nearing retirement and is called up to investigate a murder of a teen in a small Alaska town where there is 24 hours of sunlight for months at a time. The premise itself is really intriguing, and with an all-star supporting cast of Hilary Swank and Robin Williams, it's hard to go wrong. That said, the execution of 'Insomnia' is a bit clunky, as the screenplay is a major letdown. The twist is pretty easy to spot from a mile away regardless of the curve balls that are thrown into the mix. Also, it's hard to take Williams seriously in a serious role, considering he always shined when dishing out one-liners in comedies.Still, there's plenty to like about 'Insomnia.' For one, the setting in the wilderness of Alaska (or, British Columbia, to be more accurate) is a nice change from the cityscapes we're used to seeing in these kinds of thrillers, and the inner battles that Pacino's character fights while in the midst of everything else adds another dynamic to things, in addition to the lack of sleep in the midnight sun that causes even more chaos.'Insomnia' is not Christopher Nolan's best directing effort, but his signature style comes through in the thriller and it's worth a watch.
picturetaker
Perhaps my favourite Alaskan movie, maybe even my favourite Al Pacino movie and surely guaranteed one of Robin Williams best non comedic roles. INSOMNIA! A movie directed by Christopher Nolan is a movie about a mysterious murder that in a remote town in Alaska lacks the resources in law enforcement to solve it so two detectives from Los Angelas are flown in to help solve it. Yeah so its a pretty basic who done it type movie besides the whole Alaska thing.But what I love about this movie is the realism that Christopher Nolan is famous for. Even before he was known for Batman his movies had that amazing look Nolan is famous for. The cinematography is incredible. Its like a travel brochure for Alaska! Its simply amazing. The story is great. It leaves you in suspense wondering whats going on but in a good way. And not to spoil anything but the reason its called INSOMNIA is its filmed in the part of summer where the sun never sets (sort of the same as the movie 30 days of night). It just adds to the films allure.So if you like great crime movies in the "Who done it" genre and you haven't seen this flick? Where have you been!?! Its time to track this movie down and watch it. You will be in awe. Especially if you're a fan of Christopher Nolan's other work or like the actors Al Pacino, Hilary Swank or Robin Williams.
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