Insomnia (2002)
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Insomnia Movie Review
Insomnia is a 2002 thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. It’s a solid and thematically interesting, but flawed film.
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“A good cop can’t sleep because he’s missing a piece of the puzzle.
And a bad cop can’t sleep because his conscience won’t let him“
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It follows a police detective investigating a murder in an Alaskan town, but he has trouble sleeping as he accidentally killed one of his police force people during the mission. It’s a solid premise as it’s thematically very interesting and complex. I did like what they did with this theme of guilt and the titular insomnia, that was all very well done, and the psychological aspect is the highlight of this picture.
But other than that, the rest of the movie is simply serviceable and never at all particularly memorable or great. That’s because the thriller elements are thoroughly uninspired and none of the shoot-outs or chases were particularly interesting to me. The overall story is weak if you discount that psychological aspect.
Hilary Swank is good as she usually is, but her role is too small in my opinion. Robin Williams is a mixed bag. Yes, on the one hand, he does play a realistic character, but on the other hand, he’s too whiny, bitchy and never at all a fun or a particularly effective villain.
But Al Pacino is undoubtedly very good. I have never been a fan of his, but here he definitely delivered one of his strongest performances in a very complex, interesting role. He’s the standout of this film.
Insomnia does have interesting aspects to it such as the effect of insomnia, guilt as well as the setting of Alaska and the never-setting sun. Those all made this movie unique and different, albeit they all could have been utilized more overall.
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I did like Nolan’s direction, but it’s far from his best works and ‘Memento’ remains the best thriller he’s done. The editing and pacing here are solid and the cinematography and score are both pretty good. Everything is serviceable, but nothing is particularly great or memorable leading to just a solid, and pretty overrated flick.
Insomnia is interesting in its setting and thematically speaking as it explores guilt really well. It also features one of the finest performances in Al Pacino’s career and he plays the best character here without a doubt. But others are forgettable including disappointing Robin Williams, the thriller elements are never particularly memorable and the whole film is just solid and serviceable without ever being truly great.
