X
- 2002
- R
- 1 h 58 m
- 2002
- R
- 1 h 58 m
Summary From acclaimed director Christopher Nolan ("Memento") comes the story of Will Dormer (Pacino), a veteran LAPD detective who travels to a small Alaskan town with his partner Hap (Donovan) to investigate the disturbing murder of a seventeen year-old girl. (Warner Bros.)
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Written By: Hillary Seitz, Nikolaj Frobenius, Erik Skjoldbjærg
- 2002
- R
- 1 h 58 m
- 2002
- R
- 1 h 58 m
Insomnia
78
8.0
Where to Watch
Summary From acclaimed director Christopher Nolan ("Memento") comes the story of Will Dormer (Pacino), a veteran LAPD detective who travels to a small Alaskan town with his partner Hap (Donovan) to investigate the disturbing murder of a seventeen year-old girl. (Warner Bros.)
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Written By: Hillary Seitz, Nikolaj Frobenius, Erik Skjoldbjærg
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 37 Critic Reviews
78
89% Positive
33 Reviews
33 Reviews
8% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 37 Critic Reviews
78
89% Positive
33 Reviews
33 Reviews
8% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
About as good a movie as you could have hoped for. Really good. Hole-in-one good.
Gripping, highly dramatic thriller that more than confirms the distinctive talent of young Brit helmer Christopher Nolan.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 584 User Ratings
8.0
85% Positive
495 Ratings
495 Ratings
9% Mixed
53 Ratings
53 Ratings
6% Negative
36 Ratings
36 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 584 User Ratings
8.0
85% Positive
495 Ratings
495 Ratings
9% Mixed
53 Ratings
53 Ratings
6% Negative
36 Ratings
36 Ratings
A complex, clever and surprising story with the unique play of Al Pacino and Robin Williams with a wonderful ending.
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What Nolan does accomplish here that we haven't seen from him before is staging a few horrifyingly effective suspense set pieces -- one of which, in particular, is likely to stay with you for a long time.
Has to be appreciated simply for doing its job, for being the only thriller I've seen recently that made me wonder how my knuckles ended up in my mouth.
The best thing about Insomnia is that despite director Christopher Nolan's soft spot for moody-blues obfuscation, he has the good sense to keep his star in practically every shot.
Nolan pushes the twilight-zone atmosphere so hard that it loses its capacity for mystery. When it's not assaulting us with jolting audiovisual expressions of fatigue, this movie plays like a pedestrian response to David Lynch's effortlessly eerie "Twin Peaks."
Christopher Nolan’s 2002 crime thriller is, in my opinion, often overlooked by his fans and general audiences alike. I feel like perhaps they tend to have just come off the back of Inception, or The Dark Knight, and are surprised to see a film of such small scale coming from a director renowned for his high grossing blockbusters, but what they forget is that before Nolan was trying to become the next Kubrick (exaggeration I know), his films were much less high octane and in a sense far more indie, which is a style that to an extent I prefer. I was initially disappointed with insomnia’s slow pacing and narrative simplicity, but upon rewatching it I found my views on the film had drastically changed. The story takes place in Nightmute, Alaska, where a well respected detective (Al Pacino) and his partner are called over to investigate the murder of a 17 year old girl. On one hand, he faces scrutiny from
Internal investigations for his morally ambiguous decisions in the past, a situation which is only made more intense by the accidental killing of his own partner. On the other he has to deal with Robin Williams’s Walter Finch, the murderer himself who seems only intent on playing mind games with Pacino. Finally to make matters worse, due to the story taking place in Alaska during the summer, meaning that during the night the sun stays out preventing him from getting any sleep, hence the name 'Insomnia'. It’s hard to pin down what exactly makes this movie so great in my eyes. For one, I absolutely adore how the atmosphere gradually increases in intensity as the plot begins to thicken. Pacino’s flawless performance (which may be my favorite of his) perfectly conveys his stress and fatigue, which is made all the more real by kinetic editing, that frequently cuts to brief flashbacks and hallucinations in order to catch the viewer off guard.
On the other hand the absolutely stunning scenery and beautiful score by David Julyan acts as a welcomed contrast to the otherwise overwhelming tension. As much as I love Hans Zimmer I do sometimes miss when Julyan scored Nolan’s movies. Robin Williams is also as always phenomenal, giving a performance so chilling it made me feel physically uncomfortable, similar to (although not quite as extreme as) his other 2002 thriller 'One Hour Photo'. Other than the aforementioned qualities, one of my favorite things about the film is that underneath the fact that it’s another suspenseful crime thriller (which I am a **** for), insomnia is a dark, ponderous inquiry into morality of pragmatic "dirty cops" who bend the rules for the greater good. Pacino’s character is far from innocent, but at the end of the day does the end justify the means? Are his past illegal actions excused by the all good that comes from them?
At the beginning he is more or less comfortable with the reality that he has all this time been doing the right thing, but this idea is called into question the young and inquisitive Ellie Burr, who is played by Hillary Swank adding yet another stellar performance on top of both Pacino and Williams. In the end I could go on and on about why this movie is underrated, and why I believe it is one of Nolan’s best films, but for the sake of brevity I’ll leave it here. Ultimately Insomnia is a fantastic psychological thriller that has a lot more to it than meets the eye. It’s high levels of stress and themes of moral ambiguity are perfectly executed due to the stellar cast, fantastic editing and gorgeous contrasting cinematography and music.
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Insomnia will keep you awake.
Al Pacino stars in the mystery thriller that entertains but fails to reach a conclusion. A very well directed idea with a sub-par ending that doesn't allow it to reach its potential.
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Even though Nolan has several good approaches, Insomnia is nothing more than generic, unspectacular, and forgettable in the long run. Hillary Seitz’s adapted screenplay is laden with crime show stereotypes and gratuitous dialogue but lacks real character development or any unique elements. The best example for this is Hilary Swank who obviously has the most unfavourable role as an aspiring assistant detective that wants nothing more than to get advise from the old-established cop. Due to all of that, remarkable achievements in terms of visuals can’t help the film anymore than Pacino’s dedicated acting and Insomnia is best watched on a weekday evening while eating lunch and conversing with your partner.
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Awards
London Critics Circle Film Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 2 Nominations
Italian Online Movie Awards (IOMA)
• 2 Nominations
