INSOMNIA —*** 1/2 — Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Maura Tierney, Martin Donovan, Nicky Katt, Jonathan Jackson, Paul Dooley; rated R (violence, profanity, gore, vulgarity, brief nudity).
You can count on one hand the number of times a remake has managed to improve on the film that inspired it. Even more rare are foreign-language pictures done better in the English tongue.
Still, it happens, as with "Insomnia," a remake of the cerebral 1997 Norwegian thriller of the same title, which has become a cult favorite.
This English-language redo actually manages to better flesh out the characters and explain some fuzzy motivations, which makes it a definite improvement on the original.
Perhaps that shouldn't be too surprising, since director Christopher Nolan made a huge splash with last year's "Memento." Here, he's made something a bit more straight-forward — there are no real "shattered narrative" tricks — but the film is no less effective.
The title "Insomnia" refers to the sleep-deprived condition of Will Dormer (Al Pacino), an L.A. homicide detective "loaned-out" to the tiny Alaskan fishing village of Nightmute.
It's the worst possible time to be there, since the midnight sun provides perpetual sunlight as the grizzled veteran is trying to evade light of any kind — including the glare of an internal-affairs investigation directed at him in his hometown.
Still, Will is trying to do his job in this Alaskan town, which is to solve the murder of a 17-year-old girl. However, during an on-foot pursuit of an unknown suspect, he accidentally shoots and kills his partner (Martin Donovan), with whom he had earlier argued. And he covers it up.
So even as he tries to get some rest, Will is plagued by self-doubt as to whether the shooting was really accidental, and it doesn't help that he starts getting mysterious phone calls from the prime murder suspect (Robin Williams).
Admittedly, some of the plotting is a little too neat and tidy (at least one storyline relies on some convenient coincidences). But it's taut in its direction, and Wally Pfister's cinematography makes the Alaskan and British Columbia locations (the former filled with blue ice caps and lush green forests) look almost like an alien landscape.
Still, the wrong performance from Pacino could have sent the film spiraling into camp territory. Thankfully, he gives a subtle and restrained performance, which makes his character's disintegration more believable.
As for Williams, he too eschews prior excesses as a cold, calculating murderer, while Hilary Swank is solid as the Alaskan cop who begins questioning Will's version of the tragedy.
"Insomnia" is rated R for violence (gunplay, beatings and violence against women), occasional use of strong, sex-related profanity, gore, use of crude sexual slang terms and brief female nudity (glimpses of nude photos, as well as a corpse). Running time: 118 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com