Insomnia

In the gripping thriller Insomnia, two Los Angeles homicide detectives, Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan), are dispatched to the small town of Nightmute, Alaska, where the sun remains in the sky 24 hours a day. The primary reason for their visit is to investigate the gruesome murder of a high school student, 17-year-old Michael Legrand. Legrand's parents have reported their son missing, and his body was discovered later near a secluded lake, with evidence indicating that the murder was committed with precision and calculation. Dormer, a seasoned detective in his late 40s, is initially paired with Eckhart, a younger detective who is still in his early 30s. However, it soon becomes apparent that Eckhart will not be accompanying Dormer during the investigation due to a severe case of insomnia, a condition that renders him nearly useless as a detective at night. In response, Dormer reluctantly accepts the assistance of a local police officer, Hanno Ransome (Robin Williams), who has been working closely with Eckhart. As the investigation unfolds, Dormer and Ransome delve deeper into the case, searching for any leads that might help them identify the killer. They discover that the murder bears a striking resemblance to an earlier, unsolved case in another Alaskan town, which suggests that the killer might have been active in the past. Dormer's extensive experience in Los Angeles serves him well in piecing together the evidence, and, as a result, he and Ransome begin to form a bond. However, Insomnia is a thriller that defies the typical conventions of the genre. In the absence of darkness, the detectives' perceptions of time and reality become increasingly distorted. Dormer, in particular, finds himself struggling to cope with the relentless daylight, which disrupts his sleep patterns and exacerbates his own sleep disorder. The lack of nighttime forces Dormer to rely on sedatives and, in desperation, he even starts to work through the night, much to the dismay of Ransome. Their relentless pursuit of the killer leads them to re-question witnesses and, in the process, they uncover inconsistencies in the alibis of a few individuals. One suspect who catches Dormer's eye is Walter Finch, an Alaskan trapper (Robin Williams, again, but in a different role). Finch has a solid alibi for the time of the murder, but Dormer is not convinced. As the days turn into a blur, Dormer becomes increasingly obsessed with the case, feeling an intense need to solve it, not just for Michael's family, but also for himself, who, like Ransome, is struggling to manage under the constant daylight. Dormer becomes increasingly disconnected from reality. In a desperate attempt to regain control of his investigation, Dormer decides to manipulate the truth, leading to unforeseen consequences. The investigation culminates in a final confrontation with Finch, which is revealed to have been orchestrated by Dormer, but with an unusual twist. As it turns out, Dormer himself had become the killer's unwitting accomplice when the truth is revealed about Dormer and the real killer. In the climactic final scene, after he's realized he and Ransome had been following the wrong killer this whole time, Dormer is shot by Walter Finch in an intense face-off over the identity of the culprit of the crime in Michael Legrand.