Pacino, stoop-shouldered and craggy-faced - the prominent bags under his eyes a physical testimony to his weariness and sleeplessness - plumbs the very depths of this infinitely rich and complex character.Robin Williams brings an air of restraint and understatement to the part of Walter Finch, the killer who plays a cat-and-mouse mind game with the sleepless, intellectually vulnerable Dormer, exploiting Dormer's weakened state to his own advantage. Hilary Swank brings a warmth and compassion to her role as Ellie Burr, an eager-to-please detective who has long idolized Dormer and his work, who also has to make an emotionally wrenching choice near the end of the film. Finally, Maura Tierney makes her few scenes count as a sympathetic innkeeper whom Dormer turns to as the person who happens to be handy at the moment when the need to unburden his soul spontaneously arises within him.
As the film's director, Christopher Nolan establishes and maintains a mood of quiet intensity throughout the course of the film. Helped by the stark, but somewhat oppressively gloomy beauty of the Alaskan outpost setting, Nolan makes us experience the same sense of unease and disorientation Dormer himself feels. Nolan has chosen to punctuate his film with a series of highly charged, intensely dramatic confrontation scenes between Dormer and any number of the other characters in the film. The film never wanes in interest for even a moment of its running time.
Overall this is a classy little thriller that has more than enough going on to keep it interesting. The plot is well written so that it avoids a simplistic good/evil approach and the performances bring the well-drawn characters to life.
I recommend "Insomnia" to anyone who loves Nolan's movies or anyone who simply enjoys a great, multi-faceted mystery/thriller that will keep you guessing at every turn.
3.5/5
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