Insomnia keeps viewers wide awake

FOLLOWING a gruesome murder in a small Alaskan town, two Los Angeles police officers, Will Dormer (Al Pacino, pictured left) and Hap (Martin Donovan), are brought in to crack the case in INSOMNIA.

With the help of local rookie cop Ellie (Hilary Swank), reclusive novelist Walter Finch (Robin Williams) is identified as the main suspect and a psychological game of cat and mouse begins.

Pacino is at his best as the sleep-deprived Dormer, his inability to get some shut-eye has as much to do with ghosts in his closet as the day-long light in the frozen north Arctic.

Williams is uncharacteristically good as the cunning writer; — let’s face it, it’s about time he stopped playing the fool.

And Hilary Swank is convincing as the eager rookie who slowly realises her hero isn’t all that he’s cracked up to be.

Insomnia isn’t just another good-guys bad-guys cop flick. The excellent screenplay helps to build up and maintain the suspense and the rookie–veteran relationship between Swank and Pacino gives the film some depth.

Cop films are usually pretty straightforward, the cops are right and the bad guys are wrong.

Here you see things from both sides. In the end it’s hard to know who’s really right.