Some people wish this film never was made or that Nolan never directed it. I disagree. If all Nolan made was his own films, I'd have a harder time judging him as a director. Sure, all his films are good, cause he wrote them all. But because of this film, he proved to all that he can take a script already written and still make a bloody good movie as well as a movie that doesn't deviate THAT much from his other films. I seem to be the only one who thinks this feels like a Nolan film, but I don't care. I love this film.

I don't know if I explained that good enough, but I hope I got my point across.

I think it's Nolan's most assured work as a director

Well, without Insomnia Nolan would probably not have been offered the opportunity to direct BB.

A very intriguing film with really remarkable acting and interacting between Pacino and Williams.

I think most people only see it as a remake of a movie that was already there. I havent seen the original from 1997, but I think Nolans version was pretty good. Not his best, but also not the weakest.

I enjoyed Insomnia... a LOT.

I think weak it's not the word. It's his least coiled film. I mean, it doesn't have great turns at the end that make us realize what we are actually seeing. Everything we saw is what was actually happening. It's a more plain work than his usual but I agree that it's because the script was already written.
(Between my bad English and that I'm trying to study magnetism now, what I wrote must be incomprehensible, sorry if it is)

I just rewatched it and liked it a lot more the second time. Having watched a lot of detective-solving-a-murder films, this is one of the better stories I've seen. Pacino was phenomenal as well. The only thing that bothers me is that it's not a visually appealing film, like most of Nolan's others. I mean, it did take place in Alaska so there wasn't much that could be done on that front really. It sounds kinda shallow, but I do wish it was 'prettier' to look at.

I prefer the story in Following a bit better, it's more unique, but in terms of how the film was put together and delivered, Insomnia wouldn't be Nolan's weakest.

I've puzzled over this too...Nolan and three academy award winners who all give great performances, in a great thriller. Christopher Nolan is a great Actors director, one of the few out there. Even from a movie like Batman Begins flawless perfomances . a movie like the Prestige, magic, high concept cloning transporting machines still the characters are whats most interesting. I Love That. Back on topic yes Insomnia is far underrated if I were to rank his movies he is batting 1.000 8 for 8. I would rank his movies:
1. Batman Begins 4/4 stars
2. Memento 4/4 stars
3. The Prestige 4/4 stars
4. The Dark Knight 3.5/4 stars
5. Insomnia 3.5/4 stars
6. The Dark Knight Rises 3/4 stars
7. Inception 3/4 stars
8. Following 3/4 stars
All brilliant, hands down the filmmaker of the decade, one of the best of all time

Nolan's writting style is a big part of his filmmaking. Someone elses writting does not come close to his own.

The best filmmakers always have exceptional literary comprehension