Christopher Nolan is perhaps the most popular filmmaker working in Hollywood today, but not all of his movies get the recognition they deserve. Nolan made his directorial debut with Following, a somewhat experimental movie that was just a hint of his talents to come. Indeed, Nolan’s movies of the 21st century have cemented him as a blockbuster auteur.

Nolan secured the loyalty of fans with his Dark Knight trilogy, continued to make bold original movies like Inception, and eventually won an Oscar for Oppenheimer. With his upcoming The Odyssey already one of the most anticipated movies on the horizon, no new Nolan movie is going to slip through the cracks.

However, before he had truly made himself known as a director to watch, Nolan made an excellent crime movie that was sadly overlooked. While his early movie, Memento, is hailed as a triumph, his follow-up to that breakout hit deserves to be seen.

Insomnia Is Christopher Nolan’s Most Forgotten Film

The Crime Thriller Marks Nolan’s First Studio Movie

Insomnia was released in 2002, marking Christopher Nolan’s first studio movie and allowing him to work with big stars, like Oscar winners Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank. The movie is a remake of the 1997 Norwegian movie of the same name, starring Stellan Skarsgård, though Nolan makes the updated version his own.

Pacino stars as LAPD detective Will Dormer, who comes to help investigate a murder in a small Alaskan town where the sun stays in the sky all day long. Plagued by rumors of corruption, Will accidentally shoots his partner and attempts to cover it up, only to learn that the killer he is hunting (Williams) witnessed the whole thing.

Insomnia earned strong reviews when released, with 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also a box office success, earning more than twice its budget, with $113 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). Despite that success, Insomnia is rarely discussed among Nolan’s great movies, becoming overshadowed by the bigger and more ambitious tentpole movies that came later.

Why Insomnia Deserves More Love

Nolan Crafts A Smaller-Scale And Grounded Thriller

Insomnia remains an underrated thriller that might not be as exciting as Nolan’s other work, but gripping from beginning to end. It’s not easy for a director to shine in a remake, but Nolan gives Insomnia a haunting feel and a deliberate rising of tension. It’s a lot of fun seeing him operate a smaller-scale story.

It is not a thriller where the central mystery is all that important. There are no twists to how the killer pulled it off, but rather becomes a mind game between the corrupt cop and intelligent villain, seeing how far the cop will go to ensure he is not caught. Pacino makes for a terrific conflicted protagonist.

However, Robin Williams’ performance as the villain of the story is the real draw. Williams had shown his creepy side already in One Hour PH๏τo, but he is sensational here as a cunning man who is also scared of getting caught. The first conversation between Pacino and Williams is electric, with Williams bringing a mixture of nervousness and excitement to his performance.

The added intrigue of the entire thing taking place in the daylight gives a surreal element to the story. The audience begins to feel the same heaviness Will is experiencing with his lack of sleep. It is a sensational way of Nolan planting the audience in the movie.

Christopher Nolan Thinks Insomnia Is His Most Underrated Movie

Nolan Expressed His Pride In The Overlooked Movie

While Christopher Nolan’s career has grown to incredible heights since Insomnia, the filmmaker himself looks back on the movie fondly. Along with seeing it as a major milestone in his career, Nolan seems to have some notion of how the public views Insomnia and admits that he finds it underrated:

I’m very proud of the film. I think, of all my films, it’s probably the most underrated.

The reality is it’s one of my most personal films in terms of what it was to make it. It was a very vivid time in my life. It was my first studio film, I was on location, it was the first time I’d worked with huge movie stars.

That’s not really for me to say, but every now and again I meet a filmmaker and that’s actually the film that they’re interested in or want to talk about. Yeah, very proud of the film.

With Insomnia not getting a lot of recognition from audiences, it’s nice to hear Nolan express his pride in the movie. For it being his first studio movie, the confidence with which Nolan made it is especially impressive. As terrific as his blockbusters are, it would be a thrill to see Nolan return to a movie of this scale.