The style of the movie is amazing, it's so washed out and bleak (there's that word again) that it’s nearly black and white. The direction by Brad Anderson is top notch. Anderson is best known for the cult horror film Session 9 and is such skillful director that I managed not to projectile vomit when David Caruso appeared on screen in it. Here he uses that skill to immerse you fully into Reznick's world. Now that David Fincher seems to be on an extended hiatus, he leaves behind a niche Anderson could fill. I foresee big things for him.
All of this is great, but something is gnawing at me. As I said, The Machinist's success is merely partial. The bitch of it is I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong. The film is simply less then the sum of its parts. I found myself saying "Wow Bale's transformation is amazing, but was it worth it to do that to yourself for this movie?" Now don't get me wrong, as I said I genuinely like this film, it's a smart little creeper that you'll continue to think about long after you've left the theater. But.... remember that huge list of films I started off this review with? Go back to it, and if you haven't seen them all, take the money you'd have spent on The Machinist, go to a video store and fill out the holes on your list. Good though The Machinist is, those films do what it does, only ten times better.
Insomnia is the second major movie from director Chris Nolan. His first effort was the critically acclaimed and totally unique film Memento. We are fans of that flick as well and looked forward to seeing what he could do here especially with Al Pacino in the starring role. The result is a solid, albeit unspectacular, effort.
The film has some gorgeous scenery, it is well acted and well directed. So what's the problem you ask? The answer is the story. There's no mystery, we know "whodunnit" pretty early in the movie. We're just along for the ride to see how it all works out. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. For us, this time, it didn't.
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