Christopher Nolan: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best
8. Insomnia
Remakes can be a tricky beast, particularly in instances when youre starting in the shadow of an already-lauded foreign film. Even a filmmaker of David Finchers esteemed talents struggled to add much to Niels Arden Oplevs Swedish language version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, while Matt Reeves 2010 film Let Me In paled in comparison to Tomas Alfredsons Let the Right One In from a couple of years earlier. Insomnia was Chris Nolans first attempt to work within the studio system, and he was tasked with filming a remake of Erik Skjoldbjaergs 1997 Norwegian thriller of the same name. The plot concerns LAPD detective Will Dormer, played by Al Pacino, who is sent to the small, isolated town of Nightmute, Alaska, to assist an old colleague with a murder investigation. Dormer, under investigation by his own Internal Affairs department, is a troubled soul whose anxiety over his career is disrupting his sleep a state exacerbated by Alaskas piercing perpetual daylight. A tragic accident forces Dormer into an uneasy pact with sinister crime writer Walter Finch (Robin Williams) and puts him directly in the crosshairs of dogged local police officer Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank). Nolan coaxes fine performances from Pacino and Williams, and Insomnia is never less than atmospheric and engaging. Nevertheless, the director is perhaps somewhat hampered by the existing source material, to which this film sticks fairly closely for the most part, and unable to toy with the narrative in his preferred fashion. The result is a rather hazy affair that is worthy but eminently forgettable, and undoubtedly one of Nolans least satisfying efforts.
I watch movies and I watch sport. I also watch movies about sport, and if there were a sport about movies I'd watch that too. The internet was the closest thing I could find.
