Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Hillary Seitz
Starring: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hillary Swank
Synopsis: Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
Nolan is both one of the most overrated and the most underrated directors of all time. He was praised initially, and then when it became a stereotype that those who liked Nolan were fedora-wearing obese teenagers who pretend to know a lot about film, people began to criticize his movies. After The Dark Knight Rises came out, it had (despite still being very good in my opinion) enough flaws for people to assert that he wasn't just overrated but also bad in general. Interstellar became incredibly polarized and furthered this Nolan fanboys Vs. Nolan-haters fight on the internet. Personally, I think he's pretty good. He's one of the top mainstream working directors, to be honest. He's not amazing and his films don't have the intellectual prowess some of his fans believe, but he's never made a bad movie and that's always something to appreciate.
Insomnia is a perfect example to describe Nolan, because it's just good. It's not great, it's not bad. It's just good. It's a remake, so I can't exactly praise the story or it's originality, but from what I've read it seems to be have adapted the story properly to take place in America. I've never seen the Norwegian film, so I don't know if Nolan's version is the weaker version, but the director of the Norwegian version did express that he liked it, so there's that.
The film is executed very well. It's got that Nolan-esque lighting the dark colors seem to pop out. It's a bit like David Fincher lighting except a bit more high contrast and less 'smooth'. Like in all his movies, it looks fantastic. Al Pacino and Robin Williams give amazing performances. When watching the movie, I wasn't constantly distracted by the recognizable faces, it wasn't 'Al Pacino and Robin Williams in the same movie', I took them seriously as the characters they played. That's a hard thing to do if you're a big-named actor. The film makes great use of the Alaskan (and possibly Canadian, as it was filmed there too) scenery as well, giving the film a haunting atmosphere.
I think the movie had some editing problems, though. I think this is Nolan's greatest flaw and I see it in every one of his movies. The way scenes transition, the way shots change from one to the other, don't always flow right. I also think, and this isn't a criticism but an observation, that The Machinist is a much better movie, which came out two years later, with the same idea of having a character who can't sleep because of a guilty conscience. I like that Insomnia is a bit more subtle with it, but The Machinist, to me, is a much better movie overall.
I'd recommend this movie if you're into noir, detective films, crime thrillers, or just a Nolan fan who hasn't seen his earlier films. It's one of both Robin Williams's and Al Pacino's best performances as well, so I'd recommend it for those reasons alone. I'd also recommend it to those who need to be reminded that just because a director has a fanbase you might not like, or is seen as 'entry-level', doesn't mean the director makes bad movies.
7.5/10
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