Another well-made and exciting thriller from Christopher Nolan after his impressive Hollywood debut Memento. Pacino plays a detective (again) and Robin Williams plays the bad guy (for a change). Robin seems to be taking a liking to playing baddies nowadays (see also One Hour Photo).

Set in beautiful (rainy) Alaska, this film tells of an LA cop, Will Dormer (Pacino) and his partner, Hap, who have been sent to the small town of Nightmute to solve the brutal murder of a young girl. Pacino starts off in his ‘usual’ laid-back, slightly-cocky-but-you-know-he’s-right self, finding clues others would have missed and impressing Nightmute officer, Hilary Swank who is somewhat of a fan of his.

Things start to go awry pretty soon though when we discover that Internal Affairs is after Pacino back in LA, his partner gets shot and he can’t sleep. His insomnia is partly due to the 24-hour daylight in Alaska during the summer, but also because something’s on his mind. Swank quotes him as once having said: “A good cop can’t sleep ‘cos of the missing piece of the puzzle. A bad cop can’t sleep ‘cos of his conscience”. That more or less covers it.

You can really feel Pacino’s exhaustion throughout the film. Nolan used editing and sound very effectively for this, culminating in slurred speech and hallucinations. Williams is fine as a murderer, but it is still hard for me to disassociate him with Mrs. Doubtfire which makes an interesting mix. Perhaps there’s a market for “Mrs. Doubtfire’s Chainsaw Massacre Movie”? Hilary Swank was OK… I still think she was best in Boy’s Don’t Cry and can’t get used to her in feminine attire. (I tend to easily typecast actors it seems – sorry ). Added bonus is Maura Tierney (Abby from ER) as the hotel receptionist. She is cute as always.

I do not suffer from insomnia and am actually very tired now and shall go to sleep, so please excuse this rather simple review.

****/5

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