Review of Insomnia (2002) by Blake P — 14 Sep 2012

Christopher Nolan, who presently reigns as one of the finest directors of all time, was just getting started with his big career with "Insomnia". Scoring a massive-hit with the twisty "Memento", Nolan keeps his roots and creates another crime thriller, this time a bit more realistic, disturbing, and downright creepy.

The skill of "Insomnia" is that at the beginning of the film you feel like you can predict what could happen-- and by the end you're shocked at how dark it becomes. Nolan puts us in the center of a murder investigation-- veteran cop Will Dormer (Al Pacino) is sent to a sleepy Alaskan town to investigate the homicide of a teenage girl, with the help of his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) and local policewoman Ellie Burke (Hilary Swank).

After investigating for days, the team finally stumbles upon what appears to be the killer-- but after a cornering in a foggy beach, Dormer by accident shoots Hap, and instead of calling it an accident, he decides to pin this murder on the killer of the girl.

"Insomnia" steadily gets darker as it goes on, and with a fully committed performance by Pacino, there isn't a second of the film that isn't absorbing. Pacino captures the guilt and intelligence of Dormer, and the screenplay is so simply fantastic that not only is Pacino's character well-written, but everyone else in the film feels distinct and real.

It's almost an episode of a crime show-- only more intimate. "Insomnia" is one of Christopher Nolan's masterpieces (which sounds dumb considering all of Nolan's films are), and deserves to get more of a reputation.

Highly recommended.