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Insomnia is in my opinion one of the most underrated films of all time. It is a film that has a very enjoyable, fate-deciding and twisted story that I found deeply interesting from start to finish. I think the reason why I loved this film so much was that it was one of my kinds of films: murder mystery without being too complex, twists, tense and dramatic and a great ensemble cast. Insomnia is one of those films that I wasn't expecting to love as much as I actually did. It is a film that you will get totally gripped with especially with a shocking twist that affects the whole film as well as the characters within the film. It isn't a complex murder mystery film like Zodiac but it is just a simple film that just entertains and thrills audiences all the way through. This is the sort of film that would keep you awake if you are falling asleep watching it which is another reason why I really love this film a lot.
This film features three outstanding actors who are all Oscar winners: Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. Al Pacino's performance is one that some people would be disappointed by but I personally think it wasn't disappointing at all because I was gripped with Detective Will Dormer and what his fate and the fate of the rest of the film would be which is what attracted Pacino's performance to the character meant to me. It isn't Al Pacino's best performance but in my opinion it is one of my favourites from him. Robin Williams' performance as Walter Finch actually surprised me. He made a good impression of playing a villain in this film. One thing that was rather strange was that I personally believe Robin made Walter's character a pretty predictable one because I knew he was the villain even though he was denying it to begin with until he revealed he was in fact the murderer. Robin should consider in portraying some more villains in films because he is actually pretty good at doing that. Hilary Swank gives another awesome performance which is pretty predictable because she is one of those actresses who doesn't disappoint at all. Ellie Burr is like the rookie of the investigation so she learns from Will Dormer and his partner Hap Eckhart but when Eckhart is accidentally shot by Dormer and she slowly learns the truth she sees a darker side to being a detective than just seeing criminals in the outside world.
I love Nolan's work in all of his films because he hasn't done one bad film yet. It's the same thing with David Fincher too. Nolan's Insomnia is Fincher's Zodiac and it's that simple apart from Insomnia is better. Nolan's work on Insomnia wasn't like his work on Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Memento and The Prestige because he only directed Insomnia but he wrote and/or produced the other films. Chris Nolan has always been a director of creating visual dark stories but this is the only one that isn't so. The awesome cast, story and script were the things that didn't make this a disappointment to me at all. I didn't know George Clooney was one of the executive producers of Insomnia until writing this review now. I was surprised that he did produce it but to be fair he and other producers within the film actually did quite a good job. I know that some people might critisize me and have critisized me for saying that Insomnia is Nolan's second best film after The Dark Knight and Memento is his least best work even though that is still amazing but it is one's opinion.
Insomnia is a really fun film that I just loved for its entertaining story, interesting characters and the way it was filmed. Out of the three Oscar winning actors in Insomnia, Hilary Swank is the best out of them. Her performance is still obviously better in Boys Don't Cry. I find it to be one of the best films from Robin Williams and Al Pacino too. Insomnia is one of my favourite films for those reasons and other reasons in my review. It is one of my favourites of 2002 as well. I find it to be one of those rare intense, thrilling, murder mystery masterpieces that people can appreciate for being what it is: entertainment.
8/10
