Insomnia is a well-crafted movie that is really quite boring. Al Pacino stars as Will Dormer, an obsessed police detective who has to not only deal with a murderer, but also the Alaskan sun.
Dormer is one of the best detectives in the LAPD, but that doesn't stop him from being investigated on charges of evidence fabrication. This haunts him as much as the fact that he can't sleep because it's constant daylight in Alaska, where he has been assigned to help solve the murder of a young girl. Dormer gets his first lead after setting a trap for the killer, but this results in a tragedy as he ends up shooting a fellow police officer who has been helping the people investigating Dormer. At this point, I knew what the final outcome would be.
Pacino delivers a typically intense performance. Robin Williams is great as a socially maladjusted villain who wasn't raised quite right. Detective Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank) is okay as Pacino's love interest. The filming is beautiful and the audience is definitely presented with a great view of small-town Alaska.
I kept waiting for a twist and that didn't happen. While I definitely commend Director Christopher Nolan in following his heart in this regard, I can't say that the end result is anything spectacular. I recommend giving this film a miss.