Get some sleep man (Insomnia (DVD))

Member Name: west_jenn

Product:	Insomnia (DVD)
Date:	27/07/03 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: intelligent and tense

Disadvantages: none

Insomnia is a tense, clever film that will keep you guessing. It stars Al Pacino and for some daft reason I also confuse Al Pacino with Robert De niro, but it is definitely Al Pacino in this film I've just checked the box! They are very similar or is is just me!

Al Pacino plays Will Dormer a jaded, seen it all and sick of it LAPD cop.Along with his partner he is sent to a remote Alaskan town to investigate a murder. Call me nit picking, but I did wonder at this, surely there are cities nearer to Alaska than L.A that can lend a couple of jaded homicide cops?

They are investigating the murder of Kay, a local teenager who has been found literally beaten to death. The town is quiet, small and unused to murders. It's summertime and therefore in the grip of the midnight sun where the sun never sets. This destroys Dormer's bodyclock and leaes him in the grip of insomnia as he struggles to snatch sleep.

What began as a murder being investigated by Dormer's experineced, astute detective skills begins to go wrong. Dormer becomes incredibley tired through lack of sleep. His partner is accidently killed by him during an operation to trap the killer. Dormer becomes haunted by his role in his partner's death and their less than ideal relationship in L.A. His conscience keeps him awake at night, even though he hasn't slept for days.

Into the equation comes Walter Finch (Robin Williams) a reclusive local writer who becomes a suspect in the murder investigations. Walter is clever and manipulative and ironically a writer of crime fiction. He gets under Dormer's skin and cleverly manipulates him in a series of mind games, until he ends up blackmailing him. Whilst all the time Dormer is getting drugged by lack of sleep. The idealistic local cop (Hilary Swank) who began the film treating Dormer like a mentor begins to suspect that there is more to the investigation than there seems. I'll leave the plot there as I don <
br>9;t want to give too much away

One of the main plots of the film is the way Dormer unravels from confident, big city cop to a sleep deprived haunted person who can't seem to function. The relationship between him and Walter is quite cat and mouse and Walter is very cunning, somewhere along the line Dormer becomes the mouse. Al Pacino is convincing and watchable as the troubled Will Dormer. Hilary swank plays a good part as the idealistic, young oppisate of the jaded Dormer.

Summary: