A Los Angeles detective chases a murder suspect in a remote Alaskan town.A Los Angeles detective chases a murder suspect in a remote Alaskan town.A Los Angeles detective chases a murder suspect in a remote Alaskan town.
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- 1 win & 11 nominations total
Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe
- Kay Connell
- (as Crystal Lowe)
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Featured review
I erred in giving into temptation to watch the original Norwegian "Insomnia" on IFC just a couple of weeks before seeing this Hollywood re-make directed by indie-credible "Memento" Christopher Nolan with a very effective Academy Award-winning cast.
The original movie had a tiny budget and also an excellent cast, led by the terrific Swede Stellan Skarsgård, growing as pale as that relentless sunshine during the course of the film; the usually haggard-looking Al Pacino interprets his insomnia visually through an ever more haggard face.
Though the original film isn't given as the source material until well into the closing credits, this follows the main thrust of the story closely. The changes, though, are both subtle and significant and intriguingly as American as Sam Spade when the mise en scene gets moved to Alaska (actually shot in Vancouver). Significantly, there is less sex and more morality.
Hilary Swank's character is more naive than her counterpart; Martin Donovan's character's role is more central to the story and, of course, Robin Williams gets more screen time than his original counterpart, as the conflict is less in the lead's mind and more on the screen as a duel. The plot twists are done differently so I shamefully got confused between the two movies.
While not as overwhelming as the original, I do think this version should rank right up with the great detective/cop-does-the-right-thing movies, and the plot makes more sense than "The Big Sleep."
(originally written 6/16/2002)
The original movie had a tiny budget and also an excellent cast, led by the terrific Swede Stellan Skarsgård, growing as pale as that relentless sunshine during the course of the film; the usually haggard-looking Al Pacino interprets his insomnia visually through an ever more haggard face.
Though the original film isn't given as the source material until well into the closing credits, this follows the main thrust of the story closely. The changes, though, are both subtle and significant and intriguingly as American as Sam Spade when the mise en scene gets moved to Alaska (actually shot in Vancouver). Significantly, there is less sex and more morality.
Hilary Swank's character is more naive than her counterpart; Martin Donovan's character's role is more central to the story and, of course, Robin Williams gets more screen time than his original counterpart, as the conflict is less in the lead's mind and more on the screen as a duel. The plot twists are done differently so I shamefully got confused between the two movies.
While not as overwhelming as the original, I do think this version should rank right up with the great detective/cop-does-the-right-thing movies, and the plot makes more sense than "The Big Sleep."
(originally written 6/16/2002)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSir Christopher Nolan told TIME Magazine that he had to deal with leading actors with highly different approaches. Al Pacino insisted on meticulous preparation, serious talks about character motivation and lots of takes, Robin Williams preferred hardly any rehearsal, but many takes, and Hilary Swank wished to do just a few takes to stay completely focused. Nolan therefore let Pacino and Williams freely experiment and work things out together, in order to get attuned to each other.
- GoofsAfter Will and Walter's conversation on the ferry, the officer who got shot in the leg earlier by Walter is shown walking normally at the police station. Later he's shown limping and using crutches.
- Quotes
Ellie Burr: A good cop can't sleep because he's missing a piece of the puzzle. And a bad cop can't sleep because his conscience won't let him.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Day for Night: The Making of 'Insomnia' (2002)
- SoundtracksSparks
Written by Guy Berryman, Jon Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin
Performed by Coldplay
Courtesy of EMI Records Ltd.
Under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets
- How long is Insomnia?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $46,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $67,355,513
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $20,930,169
- May 26, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $113,759,177
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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