Starring: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hillary Swank, Martin Donovan, Maura Tierney
Director: Christopher Nolan
Run Time: 118 min.
[rating: 3.5/5]
You may not remember this now, but for a while your go to sinister villain was none other than Robin Williams. He started it off with One Hour Photo, a fantastic flick that was utterly creepy. It was quickly followed up with Insomnia, Nolan’s big follow-up to Memento.
Insomnia (a remake of a popular 1997 Norwegian film, if you must know), has Al Pacino as a cop (stretch there) in Alaska who is slowly losing his mind because he can’t sleep, due to the state’s perpetual 30 days of sunshine. After accidentally killing his partner and covering it up because it looked rather suspect, he goes about his business only to discover that the serial killer he’s trying to catch saw the whole thing.
I’ve not seen it in a while, but I seem to recall that Insomnia isn’t really what we think of these days when we think of a typical Christopher Nolan flick. It’s rather straight forward, not a lot of plot twists and surprises, but it’s still a damn solid flick. It’s enjoyable but, unlike Nolan’s other works, seems very straight forward. The cast of course turns in solid performances. Robin Williams really earned his reputation as a serious actor with this one, proving he can do psychotic just as good as he can zany.
Insomnia is a great flick, but not the best of Nolan’s career.
