Such an interesting scenario is created in this film. High profile LA detective Will Dormer, Al Pacino, arrives in Nightmute Alaska with his partner Hap, Martin Donovan, to track down the killer of a 17 year old girl. They\'re met by local cop Ellie Burr, Hilary Swank, who\'s followed all of Dormer\'s cases and is a fan. But we know that Dormer and Hap are the target of an internal investigation and Hap is threatening to cut a deal. A trap is set for the young woman\'s killer. In the confusion of the chase through thick fog, Hap is shot by Dormer who blames the killer.
When Dormer tracks down and confronts the suspect, an author Walter Finch, Robin Williams, he\'s forced to align himself with Finch because Finch witnessed the killing of Hap. A sort of sleuthing duel between these two corrupted men results.
Christopher Nolan is a director supremely in control of his medium, it\'s a great pleasure watching this film. Nolan worked with his Memento cinematographer former news and documentary cameraman Willy Pfister who delivers in spades making another character out of the permanent light which causes insomnia for Dormer. This is one of those films that has a great premise for a screenplay, the adaptation was written by Hillary Seitz , terrific actors, they are all so good, even Robin Williams who seems to be doing a U-turn with his career on screen, and it\'s actually about something, the moral ambiguities that seem to be part and parcel of life.
