Insomnia details
| Format: | 15 DVD |
|---|---|
| Starring: | Maura Tierney, Al Pacino, Martin Donovan, Paul Dooley, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Nicky Katt |
| Director: | Christopher Nolan |
| Genre: | Drama - General |
| Studio: | TOUCHSTONE HOME VIDEO |
| Collections: | Holiday Hits, Remakes, Top Streaming Films on your PS3 this Christmas |
| Name | Discs | |
|---|---|---|
Insomnia |
15 Feature |
DVD Information
| Run time: | 1 hour 58 minutes |
|---|---|
| Rental release: | 03 Mar 2003 |
| Main languages: | English |
| Subtitles: | Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish |
| Hearing impaired subtitles: | English |
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Most helpful review
Cerebral and Absorbing
By Alfod (115 reviews) from Walsall , 11 Mar 2004[Highly rated reviewer]
Christopher Nolan's Memento was one of the standout treasures of 2000 and I went into this knowing it would be a cerebral and absorbing effort. I was not disappointed.
The success of Memento obviously meant that big names would be queuing up to work with him and in Al Pacino, Nolan cast someone ideal for the Will Dormer role. Stellan Skarsgard, who played the equivalent role in the 1997 Norwegian original may feel aggrieved at being overlooked - with justification - but Pacino makes the role his own in a Best Actor nominated performance.
Former Best Actress Oscar-winner Hillary Swank further banishes memories of Karate Kid 4 as a local cop assigned to the murder case Dormer's investigating. ER's Maura Tierney in a small but pivotal role as the receptionist at the motel LA cop Dormer stays at makes the most of her scenes opposite Pacino (her former co-star George Clooney executive produced this). As for the rest of the cast, Robin Williams is subdued and suitably creepy as the pulp fiction author Walter Finch and Martin Donovan shines brightly but briefly as Hap Eckhart, the partner Dormer shoots accidentally.
The Alaskan setting with its perpetual daylight and Dormer's lack of sleep ratchets up the individuality of this movie, no bad thing considering the identikit nature of a lot of movies in this genre. A gem.- Was this review helpful to you?
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All reviews
(170)Nolan’s ‘training wheels’ film
By TheWatchman (489 reviews) from Suburbia , 05 Apr 2013Right now, most people know Christopher Nolan for his critically-acclaimed Batman trilogy. Others who know a little more about his work link him with some pretty intense science fiction, fantasy or generally twisted movies like Inception, The Prestige and Memento. However, before all of those classics, he did a remake of a Scandinavian film, Insomnia. I haven’t seen the original, so I can’t compare to that. Although, as it wasn’t originally his story, he didn’t have as much input on the screenplay as he normally does. It’s about a couple of cops from LA (one being the strung-out Al Pacino) who come to a small town in Alaska where it doesn’t get dark for six months of the year, to investigate a murdered girl. Enter Robin Williams – the main suspect and Al’s nemesis. With those two acting heavyweights, you can never really say that Insomnia is a bad film. It ticks all the boxes. Everyone puts in a decent performance and I can’t really see anyone who likes detective-type movies being disappointed. However, when you compare it to Nolan’s other work, it does seem like a step down in quality. I can only think he prefers working on his own screenplays. Either way, don’t let that put you off. It does the job and it’s definitely worth a watch (as are most of Al Pacino’s films!)- Was this review helpful to you?
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Great film, not to be missed
By zeep2k (35 reviews) from Merseyside , 08 Feb 2013Insomnia is a brilliant film and is well acted by Pacino and Williams especially who is well suited in this serious role. It's somewhat predictable of a plot but the performances alone make up for that.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Good start but then nothing special
By Bassman71 (618 reviews) from Didsbury, England , 28 Jan 2013Two L. A Detectives go to Alaska to investigate murder, tension between them, tragedy strikes, twists and turns. Starts off promising enough before becoming a run-of-the-mill cop thriller with Al Pacino and Robin Williams not really filling their potential. The first forty minutes draw you in by not going where you expect it to but it soon just becomes a pretty standard affair. It does look nice though and some fantastic sweeping shots of Alaska as the film goes on backed up by a competent soundtrack.- Was this review helpful to you?
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disappointing and dull.
By a customer , 11 Sep 2012I was expecting an edge of your seat thriller, what I got was a slow dull boring plot line with very little to feel tense about. Al Pacino takes on a good role as a cop whos haunted by the memory of some bad decisions yet the story is lacklustre and isn't held up very well by a poor supporting cast with the exception of Hilary Swank. There is far too much irrelevant content and not enough empasis on the key parts of the plotline.
Worth a watch if your into crime thrillers but dont expect to be blown away.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Kept me awake too!
By Platospupil (195 reviews) , 25 Jul 2012I was working my way back through the Christopher Nolan back catalogue and am I glad I found this one. Super evidence of all that was to be realised later in Inception, BM, etc. Wonderfully shot and cast (memories of Cohen's and Fargo for the sense of existential background), watching Al, fall apart is wonderful - a peerless performance from him. And Robin is just wonderfully sick .. he should do this more often. Great film.- Was this review helpful to you?
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