Insomnia (2002)

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Screenplay Genre: Crime / Drama / Mystery

Movie Time: 118 minutes

1. INCITING INCIDENT

Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are Los Angeles police detectives who travel to a remote town in Alaska to help out on a homicide. It's clear that they were sent there to avoid the heat of an Internal Affairs investigation going on back in Los Angeles. Hap explains to Will that he's going to give IA what they want because he's got a family to think of. (00:13:30)

2. LOCK IN (End of Act One)

The cops set up a trap, but the murderer (Robin Williams as Walter Finch) susses this out and runs away into the dense fog. Will is hot on his trail, catching glimpses here and there. Finally, he sees the outline of a figure and shoots. It's his partner Hap. Will tries to stop the bleeding but Hap dies. When Chief Nyback (Paul Dooley) asks if the murderer who got away shot his partner, Will agrees, lying about it. (00:30:07)

3. FIRST CULMINATION (Midpoint)

The murderer contacts Will and explains that he saw Will shoot his partner, but he won't say anything if Will helps him pin the rap on someone else. Will agrees. (01:13:03)

4. MAIN CULMINATION (End of Act Two)

A patsy is successfully indicted for the murder. Will and Finch are in the clear. But local detective Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank) finds a 9mm shell casing while she is going over the original crime scene. Burr remembers from an old case study that Will carries that caliber. At the local police watering hole, she asks if anyone carries a 9mm weapon. Will says the case is closed, and Burr doesn't press it. He and Finch really are in the clear now. (01:36:23)

5. THIRD ACT TWIST

Will can't stand the injustice of it all and so he breaks into Finch's home, presumably to shoot him, but Finch isn't in--the letters he supposedly had at his lake house are though. Will knows Burr is on her way out there to retrieve the letters as evidence against the patsy. Will manages to get to Burr in time, but Finch runs off. Will admits everything when she spells out what she found. Finch begins firing at them and both Finch and Will end up fatally wounded. Burr runs to him and pulls out the 9mm casing. She's going to throw it in the lake to save his reputation, but Will stops her. "Don't lose your way," he says. She watches him die. (01:52:09)

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