Excellent Thriller...Excellent Cast...Excellent Director

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2002)

I was privileged to see an advanced screening of "Insomnia" at my state university two weeks ago. Here's my account of a very well done movie:
Christopher Nolan had a heavy task in following up "Memento." This movie could have easily been a made-for-TV-type flick, but with a perfect cast, spectacular directing, and awe-inspiring cinematography this is a top-notch movie thriller.
It isn't "Silence of the Lambs," although Robin Williams' character seems to have a Hannibal Lecter-ish way to his mannerisms. This isn't "Memento" by a long shot, which was both disappointing and gratifying at the same time. I have seen two Nolan movies ("Following" and "Memento" both of which I recommend) and both shared the odd filming technique of not running in sequence, so it was good to see that he could make a movie that follows in logical order and pull it off in a big way.
Hilary Swank played a rather small role, one that probably could have been omitted with a few script changes. I won't say anything about the end of the movie other than it was the ONLY downfall of the movie. I am so used to Nolan having some GIANT twist at the end, so when there wasn't I was a little disappointed. The action scenes are very intense in subtle ways. I still am impressed that a script with so few twists ended up being as good as it did.
I gave it a 9 out of 10, but I think most people will settle for a solid 8. Definitely check it out and you shouldn't be disappointed.