Insomnia

After a hit as inventive and novel as last year's narrative-bending Memento, following up with a remake of something as commonplace as a cop vs. killer cat-and-mouser might seem a step down for director Christopher Nolan. But Insomnia is an unusual story itself, following a graying, threadbare detective (a fantastic, understated Al Pacino) haunted by an ugly Internal Affairs inquiry and plagued by an ongoing sleep disorder during a cryptic investigation into the murder of a teenage girl above the Arctic Circle in summer when the sun never sets. When Pacino cover ups an accidental shooting during a foot chase that leaves a cop dead, his suspect (played with eerie, meticulous reserve by Robin Williams in his best performance to date) blackmails him into helping frame someone else for the girl's murder. While in many ways a conventional, sometimes contrived, and even predictable Hollywood remake, Insomnia is also at times creatively different from the 1997 Norwegian original, which--combined with Nolan's cinematic flair--lends the film a stimulating depth and intelligence. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one by director Christopher Nolan, the other by star Hilary Swank, writer Hillary Seitz, cinematographer Wally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley, and editor Dody Dorn); production diaries comprised of an unscripted "conversation" interview of star Al Pacino by Nolan, the eight-minute "Day for Night" "making-of featurette," and a pair of "In the Fog" six-minute segments on cinematography and production design (featuring Pfister and Crowley); the eight-minute featurette "Eyes Wide Open," on the medical aspects of insomnia; a three-minute additional scene with optional commentary; and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a solid remake.] (R. Blackwelder)