Insomnia (2002)

Insomnia (2002)

7/10

Starring

Al Pacino

Robin Williams

Hilary Swank

Maura Tierney

Directed by Christopher Nolan

This was the first Christopher Nolan movie I saw back then in the early 2000s. I recall what drew me to see it is that it starred Robin Williams in a none comedic role, and at that time I had begun to love Al Pacino. Insomnia is a remake of a 1997 Norwegian film of the same name, and this psychological detective thriller swallows you up in what is a battle for integrity.

The power of this movie is the cinematography, shot in Alaska the movie makes the best of the scenery. Nolan the director makes you feel the challenge as an officer develops insomnia as he struggles with his conscience which is made worse because that time of the year in Alaska at that time. We got to know and me for the first time when seeing this movie back then that they in Alaska experience 24 hours daylight for like two months in a year. As expected Pacino and Williams gave outstanding performances making this movie easy to follow and very enjoyable a ride.

The plot is about the murder of a seventeen-year-old girl. A detective from LA named Will (Al Pacino) was sent to assist in the investigation. Will is very popular for solving notable cases, but he being sent to Alaska was not because of that. Will is under investigation concerning his last case, he is being suspected for planting evidence and he has been sent off far from LA because of the ongoing investigation.

Will none the less takes on the case and immediately starts putting things together. He is not alone, as his longtime partner Hap, is in Alaska with him and both set a trap for the murderer. All this was done after Will and Hap discuss the ongoing case which put Will on the edge. The trap for the murderer was perfect and he fell for it, but upon approach tragedy struck and Will is right in the middle of it. With the investigation in LA ongoing, now this problem was going to give the Internal Affairs people more ammo to take him down.

Worse still he still has to solve the case of the murdered girl and as explained above his guilt from planting evidence is hunting him, causing him to have insomnia.

The movie did ok at the box office, and garnered a lot of positive reviews from critics. It is still very much interesting to see and I will advise if you have not seen this movie before, you should find it and cross seeing it off your list.