Rating: R
Genre:
Thriller
Release Date: 10/15/2002
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 118 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Director
Christopher Nolan follows up his breakthrough sophomore film
Memento with this remake of a stylish Norwegian
thriller.
Al Pacino stars as
Detective Will Dormer, a Los Angeles Police Department legend who temporarily escapes an internal affairs investigation that may ruin his career by traveling to Nightmute, AK, the remote site of a murder that has the local authorities flummoxed. Along with his partner,
Hap Eckhart (
Martin Donovan), and the small town's wide-eyed rookie investigator,
Ellie Burr (
Hilary Swank), the exhausted
Dormer probes the brutal slaying of a teenage girl who was rumored to have a secret lover. A clever ruse quickly lures the killer into a police trap, but the suspect escapes and a tragic accident at the scene leaves
Dormer at the mercy of the murderer, a pulp crime novelist named
Walter Finch (
Robin Williams). As
Finch plays a dangerous game of extortion with
Dormer, the detective's mental health deteriorates rapidly from guilt over his complicity in a crime and sleep deprivation compounded by the lack of darkness in the land of the midnight sun. Meanwhile, the bright and dogged
Ellie continues putting the pieces of a complex puzzle together despite
Dormer's skillful attempts to lead the investigation toward the right suspect, but away from his own malfeasance.
Insomnia co-stars
Paul Dooley,
Nicky Katt,
Maura Tierney, and
Jonathan Jackson.
~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide