While Road to Perdition may have more big names attached to it than any other film, the names attached to Insomnia carry more than their share of respect. Insomnia, a remake of highly acclaimed Norwegian film by the same name, is director Christopher Nolan’s first film since his breakthrough effort, Memento. Perhaps Nolan’s greatest accomplishment in this film is bringing its two stars, who have both recently been slumping, back to their prime as actors. The great Al Pacino plays a veteran LAPD detective who is called up to Alaska to investigate a mysterious murder of a young girl. The prime suspect, a creepy but very intelligent mystery novelist is played by Robin Williams, who in 2002 made a shift from the dumbed-down, light-hearted comedies he’s been doing to more serious, darker material. Hillary Swank also has an admirable performance as the young, enthusiastic Alaskan detective who looks up to Pacino’s character as an almost celebrity-like figure. The complexities of this incredibly interesting screenplay bring so many new and intriguing elements into this crime/police procedural genre film. For example, the added aspect of Pacino’s character slowly going insane from his insomnia adds a whole new element to the traditional police thriller and when you throw in the conflict between Pacino and his superiors at LAPD the tension becomes almost unbearable. Robin Williams plays exactly the perfect notes with his character, not overdoing it like some actors would do but still managing to be incredibly creepy and desperate sounding. Nolan handles the abundance of material with great authority and shows that he can do amazing work without having to rely on a gimmick. Insomnia is one of the all around best-made films of 2002 and was able to do what few police mysteries can: hold my attention for the entire movie.