Insomnia (2002)

This was one of those rare remakes that improves slightly on the original film. Now, I think the original (with Stellan Skarsgaard) is good but overrated mainly because it more or less squanders the inherent promise in its neat premise and we end up with far too many shots of Stellan in bed trying to sleep. Thankfully, the screenplay and director/genius Christopher Nolan avoids that trap. But by beefing up the role of the killer, they've also drained a bit of the suspense out of the scenario, so that it's less a thriller and more a skewed character drama. (Given that the original was less a thriller than an intellectual exercise, this could be seen as progress.) Still, it moves along quite nicely with tons of great atmosphere and well-tuned acting. Al Pacino in particular gives one of his long career's best performances and his best since Donnie Brasco. (Memo to a certain someone: Whadaya mean Hilary Swank was miscast? Were you on drugs? Or maybe just intoxicated by the prescence of so many famous people in your vicinity?) Shame that the ending is a letdown, then. Though his films are far more action-packed and less navel-gazing, Nolan seems kin to Ingmar Bergman in his obsession with the existential weight of identity and guilt and truth-telling. Which is why the final scene baffles me -- without giving too much away, it seems too standard-Hollywood moralistic. It's the one point in the film where the original was better, and it lets the film slip away a bit.

Grade: B