History Film / Insomnia

However, due to the stress of the investigation, combined with an extreme case of insomnia brought on by the White Nights, he ends up committing a fatal error when he tries to hunt down the killer - a botch-up that he, overwhelmed by his sleepless frenzy, attempts to cover up.

-->-- '''Ellie Burr''', from the 2002 version.

''Insomnia'' is a 1997 Norwegian PsychologicalThriller film directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg and starring Creator/StellanSkarsgard, and a 2002 American remake directed by Creator/ChristopherNolan and starring Creator/AlPacino, Creator/RobinWilliams, and Creator/HilarySwank. Both films were critical darlings, and the remake, in particular, became a box office hit.

[[caption-width-right:300: [[TagLine Don't close your eyes]].]]

[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation to]] the Creator/StephenKing novel ''Literature/{{Insomnia}}'', or the gaming/philosophy website, or the Legend of Zelda fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Insomnia}}''.

* NotSoDifferent: The killer, a crime author himself, attempts this on the detective several times throughout the film - more subtly in the original, more overtly in the remake (at one point, he mentions that he's always had a great deal of respect for cops, and wanted to be one himself, though he couldn't pass the physical exam). In the original, this also becomes otherwise increasingly apparent with both men's sexual frustration and violent urges shining through.

* WhatTheHellHero: The killer repeatedly expresses his wonder as to why the detective couldn't just admit to [[spoiler:shooting his colleague by mistake]], as it wouldn't have ended ''nearly'' as bad for him as being caught manipulating the investigation. The killer's not really outraged by it, he's just using it a psychological tactic to convince Dormer that they're NotSoDifferent and should work together.

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Finch is definitely this in the remake. He's totally capable to deal with Burr, successfully fend off Dormer and even[[spoiler:tually kill him as well, even if he dies as well.]]

* The ages of the two primary female characters - the local detective and the hotel receptionist - are also swapped in the films. Likewise, their personalities are switched; Ellie shares Ane's enamored feelings for the detective, while Hagen and Clement act more professionally around him.

* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Walter Finch in the remake is very polite and friendly towards Will, viewing him as a similar mind.]]

* FilleFatale: Katharine Isabelle's character in the remake. She's underage, but she tries to flirt with Detective Dormer, who is clearly uninterested. But she's just as clearly used to using her body to get her way, so she doesn't notice. The whole reason he took her for a drive was to interrogate her later. [[BreakTheCutie She doesn't take well to his interrogation method]].

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Dormer only broke the rules once in his long career as a detective (the Dodd Case) and it threatens to ruin him in the midst of an internal affairs investigation, also causing him to [[spoiler: cover up accidecanlly killing his partner and then being blackmailed by a killer]]. In the end, he does manage to stop sliding and end the film on heroic note, but it's strongly implied that Ellie will expose him, and damage his reputation. something Dormer himself seems at peace with.

* GreatDetective: Dormer is introduced this way, being a veteran detective FamedInStory for all of the infamous mruders he's solved quickly finding details the initial examination missed in a SherlockScan of Kay's body, and additional ones when examining her room. Following that, he suggests a psychological attack to catch their main suspect off-guard.He sets up an impressive trap using her backpack while identifying some useful evidence from the backpack. By the second half of the film, he's turning into more of a HardBoiledDetective, struggling not to become a FallenHero (assuming he isn't already).

** [[spoiler:Subverted with the young girl's death. The killer claims that this is how she died. While in the original, it's left rather vague, with the killer probably killing her in a fit of rage, whereas in the remake, he's obviously just making excuses. Dormer also reveals near the end that the research shows that he would have to have taken around 10 minutes to beat her to death, making it anything but accidental.]]

* HeroWorshiper: Ellie deeply respects Dormer and follows his career, and it's implied that this was the extent of Kay Connell's feelings towards author Walter Finch.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailer of the remake made it look like a serial killer movie in the vein of ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' and even went so far as to add a line ([[MissingTrailerScene naturally not found anywhere in the movie itself]]) that claimed the killer kept his victims for 3 days before killing them.

* ExactWords: Dormer telling Farrell (a deputy who was wounded by the killer shortly before Eckhart was shot) that the fault belongs to the person who killed Kay Connell, rather than saying it belongs to the person who shot Eckhart.

* HasTwoThumbsAnd Loves Blowjobs?: Said by one of the Sheriff's deputies in the remake.

* AntiClimax: [[spoiler:The original's finale at first promises to become a tense standoff, with Holt holding Engström at gunpoint. Then Engström disarms Holt, Holt beats the snot out of Engström and then tries to run away, only to fall through the pier's derelict floor and break his neck. Naturally, [[TropesAreNotBad this was quite deliberate]].]] Averted in the remake.

''Insomnia'' is a 1997 Norwegian PsychologicalThriller film directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg and starring Creator/StellanSkarsgard, and a 2002 American remake directed by Creator/ChristopherNolan and starring Creator/AlPacino, Creator/RobinWilliams, and Creator/HilarySwank. Both films were critical darlings, and the remake in particular became a box office hit.

** [[spoiler:Engström/Dormer accidentally shoots his partner while they're tracking the killer through the mist (in the remake, he covers it up because he had a motive for killing him). Towards the end however, not even he is sure whether it was an accident or not.]]

* AndYourLittleDogToo: [[spoiler:In the original, Holt threatens to get Ane next if Engström doesn't back off. He was evidently only bluffing though, since he never did it. In the remake, Finch ''does'' go through with it, capturing Ellie.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: In the end of the original, [[spoiler:Engström stops to contemplate Holt, who fell through a decayed pier as he tried to run away, breaking his neck and then slipping into the sea, as Holt slowly drowns]]. All in all, the killer is quite a bit more [[TheWoobie pathetic]] here than in the remake, where he is ever-so bit worse.
* AntiVillain: In the original, [[spoiler:Holt]] the killer. On one hand, he ''is'' a devious, cowardly murderer, but the again, he is very clearly a damaged soul who keeps atoning for it throughout the film.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: The remake. The killer is a cheerful and smiling, but ice-cold psychopath, while Dormer is a angst-ridden DirtyCop who genuinely tries to do good in an indifferent world, but is forced to dig himself deeper into an inexcusable pit. The two men's relationship could, at best, be likened to a fish caught helplessly in the fisherman's hook.

* {{Delinquents}}: The victim's boyfriend. When Dormer interrogate's him, he at first tries to affect what Dormer calls a "fuck the world" attitude. After Dormer points out that the boyfriend is making himself out to be the prime suspect through his own stupidity, the kid is more forthcoming.

* FauxAffablyEvil: The killer, at least in the remake, tries to be friendly and sympathetic to Dormer. When Dormer is in the killers home, he calls Dormer up and says he can use the shower if he wants. He also talks about the great respect he has for the police, and even offers to listen if Dormer wants to talk about his partner. Though it's pretty obvious, even to the sleep deprived Dormer, that the killer isn't doing this out of the kindness of his heart, but as a means to an end.
* FilleFatale: Katharine Isabelle's character in the remake. She's underaged, but she tries to flirt with Detective Dormer, who is clearly uninterested. But she's just as clearly used to using her body to get her way, so she doesn't notice. The whole reason he took her for a drive was to interrogate her later. [[BreakTheCutie She doesn't take well to his interrogation method]] .

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: [[spoiler: The detective's sin (he forged evidence in order to get a killer convicted), which he is concerned internal investigations will discover. Also, killer's rationale for framing the dead girl's abusive boyfriend.]]

* LetMeAtHim: Invoked by the detective, who is being blackmailed by the killer for an incident in which he accidentally shot his partner. During the interrogation the actual killer tries to steer the cops to suspect Kay's abusive boyfriend with a "smoking gun" piece of evidence. In the remake, Dormer has to get out of the interrogation room so he can find the weapon before the cops search the boyfriend's apartment, so he aggressively questions and tries to hit him so his colleagues will think he's overworked and let him out for a while).

* OnceMoreWithClarity: As is the case with Creator/ChristopherNolan films, there's a couple shots that take on a new significance when they're shown again later. The movie opens with an extreme closeup of a white cloth being stained with something red, presumably blood. [[spoiler: Much later it turns out that this wasn't the victim's blood on her clothes, but blood Dormer was planting on someone clothes in a completely different case, and accidentally getting some on his shirt sleeve]]. A little later, we get snippets of a girl laughing, which looks like Dormer imagining the victim alive and happy. [[spoiler: Then Finch tells Dormer about how he killed the victim for laughing at him. We see the shot again, but this time her laughter is cut short by a blow to the head.]]
* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:Walter Finch]] in the remake is a cold-blooded murderer and a literal example who owns two labrador retrievers. When Detective Dormer tracks him down to his apartment the killer is forced to flee, but calls back to make a deal with Dormer and asks him to feed his dogs if he's there anyway. In the original, Holt might be deranged, but nevertheless grief-stricken over what he did.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:The detective's sins keep accumulating throughout the film. First he is living with the guilt of betraying his own ethics to get a criminal behind bars, then of shooting his partner possibly intentionally, then of helping another murderer get away to protect his legacy. In the remake, Dormer atones by turning against Finch, but dies in the shootout shortly after killing Finch.]]

* ToBeLawfulOrGood: How the detective initially sees the choices he makes. In the remake, that desire persists to the end. In the original, [[SlidingScaleofIdealismVsCynicism not]].

** Eckhardt certainly thinks that Dormer shot him on purpose, as evidenced by his LastWords. The killer, hidden in the mist, observes all of this, and uses it to try and get leverage on Dormer throughout the movie.

* IDidntMeanToKillHim: The killer tells the detective who's investigating him (and whom he's blackmailing to help him pin the murder on someone else) that he "didn't mean" to beat his teenage victim to death. When he repeats the same nonsense later on, the detective points out that he knows it took him ''fifteen minutes''.

** [[spoiler:Subverted with the young girl's death. The killer claims that this is how she died. While in the original, it's left rather vague, with the killer probably killing her in a fit of rage, whereas in the remake, he's obviously just making excuses; When she died, rather than panicking, he meticulously and calmly prepared her body to remove any evidence. Dormer also reveals near the end that the research shows that he would have to have taken around 15 minutes to beat her to death, making it anything but accidental.]]

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: [[spoiler: The detective's sin (he forged evidence in order to get a killer ocnvicted), which he is concerned internal investigations will discover. Also, killer's rationale for framing the dead girl's abusive boyfriend.]]

* DisneyDeath [[spoiler:Holt in the original. He plunges to his death when a few wooden beams give away from under him. It's not as pretty as the usual DisneyDeath though, as he is seen paralysed as he goes under in the bight.]]

* MeaningfulName: Played ironically. Dormer's name is a cognate for the word "to sleep" in several Romance languages.
** Even moreso, his first name is "Will." His name is literally "the will to sleep."

* WorthyOpponent: In the remake, Finch views his relationship with Will like this. Will, however. thinks he's no more intelligent or special than the innumerable killers he's dealt with before.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailer of the remake made it look like a serial killer movie in the vein of ''TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' and even went so far as to add a line ([[MissingTrailerScene naturally not found anywhere in the movie itself]]) that claimed the killer kept his victims for 3 days before killing them.