Insomnia (2002 film)

Insomnia
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Christopher Nolan
Produced by	Emma Thomas Broderick Johnson Paul Junger Witt Andrew A. Kosove Edward L. McDonnell Executive: George Clooney
Written by	Erik Skjoldbjærg Nikolaj Frobenius (1997 screenplay) Hillary Seitz
Starring	Al Pacino Robin Williams Hilary Swank Maura Tierney Martin Donovan Nicky Katt Crystal Lowe Paul Dooley
Music by	David Julyan
Cinematography	Wally Pfister
Editing by	Dody Dorn
Studio	Alcon Entertainment Section Eight
Distributed by	Warner Bros. (USA) Buena Vista International (UK and AU)
Release date(s)	May 24, 2002 (2002-05-24)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$46 million
Box office	$113,714,830

Insomnia is an American psychological thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank. The film, released on 24 May 2002, is a remake of the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name.

Plot

In the small fishing town of Nightmute, Alaska, 17-year-old Kay Connell (Crystal Lowe) is found murdered. LAPD detectives Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are sent to assist the local police with their investigation.

Concurrently, an intense Internal Affairs investigation in Los Angeles is about to put Dormer under the microscope; Eckhart reveals that Internal Affairs has offered him an immunity deal in exchange for his testimony regarding one of Dormer's past cases. Dormer tries to talk Eckhart out of it, but Eckhart, apparently complicit to some degree in Dormer's misdeeds, says that he has no choice but to accept the deal.

Focusing on the Nightmute case, Dormer comes up with a plan to lure the murderer back to the scene of the crime; however, the stakeout attempt is blown, and the murder suspect flees into the fog, forcing the police to spread out and search for him on foot. During the pursuit, Dormer sees a figure through the fog, which he believes is the armed murder suspect. He fires, and the figure collapses. When Dormer approaches, he discovers that he has mistakenly shot Eckhart. Dormer then runs to help his partner, who believes Dormer shot him intentionally and recoils from him before dying of his wounds. Given the nature of Eckhart's impending testimony, Dormer knows that Internal Affairs will never believe that the shooting was accidental; panicked, he alters the crime scene before crying for help. Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank), a young police officer and Dormer's biggest fan, is put in charge of the investigation of Eckhart's shooting. Dormer uses his influence and reputation to try and mislead her into believing the suspect killed Eckhart.

Over the next few days, Dormer begins losing his grip on reality, plagued with guilt over killing Eckhart and tormented by the resultant insomnia (which is further exacerbated by the perpetual daylight). Dormer then starts receiving anonymous phone calls from the suspect, who claims to have witnessed Dormer kill his partner, and knows of his attempts to cover it up. Dormer is aware that Kay was a fan of a crime writer named Walter Finch (Robin Williams), and books autographed by him were found among her possessions; this then leads Dormer to believe that Finch is somehow involved. After finding his town of residence from a dust jacket, Dormer looks up Finch's address and breaks into his apartment to gather evidence, only to be discovered by Finch himself, who gets away. Finch contacts Dormer, who agrees to meet him in public; Finch then offers Dormer a deal, where Dormer is to frame Kay's abusive boyfriend Randy Stetz (Jonathan Jackson) for the murder in exchange for Finch's silence about the Eckhart shooting, forcing Dormer to choose between destroying his own reputation and allowing an innocent man to be sent to prison.

Meanwhile, Burr finds some inconsistencies in Dormer's testimony; she finds a 9mm shell casing at the scene, which conflicts with the bullet type believed to be found in the body, and believes that the direction the suspect fled is improbable. Meanwhile, Finch calls Dormer and tells him that Kay's death was "an accident" — he beat her to death in a blind rage after she rejected his advances. Dormer is appalled, but still feels he has no choice but to keep his end of the deal. The next day, Finch, under Dormer's instruction, gives false testimony at the station, which, along with a weapon planted by Finch, effectively places blame on Randy. Back at the station, Finch offers to give Burr letters indicating that Randy abused Kay, and asks her to come and collect evidence from his second, isolated home the next day.

Dormer returns to his hotel for one last night, where he confides in the hotel owner, Rachel Clement (Maura Tierney), that he fabricated evidence to help convict a pedophile he was certain was guilty of murdering a child, and who would have been set free if Eckhart had testified. She refuses to pass judgment on Dormer, saying that she moved to Alaska because she was trying to "escape something".

Upon returning to Finch's apartment, Dormer discovers that Finch has gone to meet Burr without his evidence, and realizes that Finch intends to kill her. Meanwhile, Burr discovers Kay's dress at Finch's house, and Finch knocks her unconscious. Dormer, fatigued from his insomnia, eventually reaches the cabin and struggles to fight Finch. Burr eventually saves Dormer from Finch, who flees outside to cover; she then holds Dormer at gunpoint, revealing that she knows he shot Eckhart and demanding to know whether he did it on purpose. Dormer admits that he shot his partner, but claims he is no longer certain if it was an accident. From the protection of his shed, Finch fires at them with a shotgun and Dormer devises a plan; while Burr distracts him with gunfire, Dormer sneaks around to Finch's location. A struggle ensues which ends with them shooting each other, killing Finch and mortally wounding Dormer.

Burr rushes to the detective's aid, and then comforts him by affirming that Eckhart's shooting was accidental, and tries to toss the shell casing evidence. Dormer stops Burr, telling her not to lose her way, before saying "just let me sleep" as he dies. After a brief moment of contemplation, Burr decides to slip the shell casing back into its plastic evidence bag.

Cast

• Al Pacino as Detective Will Dormer
• Robin Williams as Walter Finch
• Hilary Swank as Ellie Burr
• Maura Tierney as Rachel Clement
• Martin Donovan as Detective Hap Eckhart
• Nicky Katt as Fred Duggar
• Paul Dooley as Chief Nyback
• Crystal Lowe as Kay Connell
• Jay Brazeau as Francis
• Larry Holden as Farrell
• Kerry Sandomirsky as Trish Eckhart
• Lorne Cardinal as Rich
• Katharine Isabelle as Tanya Francke
• Jonathan Jackson as Randy Stetz

Reception

Critics' reviews were very positive, with a "Certified Fresh" rating of 92% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.7/10 from a total of 167 reviews. The website reported the critical consensus, "Driven by Pacino's performance, Insomnia is a smart and riveting psychological drama." The film also holds a Metacritic score of 78, based on 36 reviews.

Novelization

Robert Westbrook adapted the screenplay to novel form, which was published by Onyx in May 2002.

External links

• Official website
• Insomnia at the Internet Movie Database
• Insomnia at AllRovi
• Insomnia at Box Office Mojo
• Insomnia at Rotten Tomatoes
• Peter Cowie essay on the original at Criterion.com
• Insomnia Screenshot Gallery at NolanFans