Insomnia Review

Here is the next film in Christopher Nolan's filmography. I am going to need to speed up my reviews of his if I'm going to get them all up by the release of Interstellar in a few weeks. I'll try my best. I'm really enjoying revisiting all the films he's done. It has reminded me of some of his more underrated movies, such as this one. Insomnia is a great psychological thriller with two top-notch lead performances from Al Pacino and Robin Williams. It's a shame it doesn't get more recognition.

After the critical and financial success of Memento, Chris Nolan was given the opportunity to direct a higher-budgeted film with Insomnia. It has an illustrious cast and some really impressive production values. It was the first example of what Nolan could do with a little more resources on his side. While it may not reach the heights of his previous film, it retains much of the narrative sophistication and intellectual prowess while also reaching higher levels of scope and size.

The aforementioned cast is chock-full of talent. Al Pacino stars in the lead role as a veteran detective who travels to a remote town to solve a murder case involving a teenage girl. With Pacino, you know you can safely expect a great performance, which he gives here. One of the greatest aspects of his performance is the way he plays off of Robin Williams so terrifically. Before his tragic passing earlier this year, Williams was always one of the best actors working in Hollywood. Not only was he an incredibly funny person, he also proved to have serious acting chops in films like this one and Good Will Hunting, as well as others. Those are his two best, I think. His performance in Insomnia is absolutely riveting, at times chilling. Perhaps the best in the entire movie, which is saying a lot about a film starring names like Al Pacino and Hilary Swank.

Swank also gives a really good performance as a young detective who greatly admires Pacino's character. It would be easy to write her off in the midst of such acting legends as Pacino and Williams, but she holds her own among them.

One of the best things about Insomnia is Nolan's fabulous direction. This can be said about all of his movies, but this one in particular hugely benefits from his utterly gripping atmosphere. Everything from the color palette to the pace of the story to the intense dialogue is pretty much perfect. Much like every film he's ever done, Nolan is able to wholly engross the audience within the story and the world he's portraying to the extent that you forget you're watching a movie.

I think one might be disappointed if they go into Insomnia with the expectation of an action-packed cop thriller. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of thrills throughout the film, and the story keeps you on the edge of your seat. But that's just it: the story is the real driving force. At its heart, it's a fairly standard cop drama. But Nolan adorns it in his usual intellectual complexity and moral ambiguity. By the end of the movie, you may just start to second guess who's the good guy in the situation and who's the bad guy, and whether there are any good and bad guys, or whether everyone is just a different shade of gray.

Insomnia is a special crime drama because it chooses to consider its characters and relationships, as well as the plot itself, as more important than the usual genre elements. There are aspects of the film that conform to the standard crime drama/thriller mold, but Nolan also provides enough of his own directorial flare, and the performances are all fantastic enough to make it stand out from the rest of the pack.

Insomnia is not Christopher Nolan's finest movie. He's made many better films. Which I think is why it doesn't get the credit it deserves. People expect every one of his films to be as innovative and mind-blowing as, say, Memento or Inception. However, this movie shows that he is capable of making a perfectly grounded and realistic thriller that also happens to require you to use your brain and exercise your own thoughts while watching it. In my opinion, it's a criminally underrated gem from Nolan that anyone who hasn't seen yet should definitely check out.

If you go in without any preconceived notions or expectations, and simply take it as the exceptionally executed crime thriller that it is, then you will most certainly enjoy it. It also features one of the late Robin Williams' greatest dramatic performances.

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