'The Informer' Review
It’s amazing that it took a global pandemic for some movies that have been held for a year or two (or three) to finally be released. The latest is “The Informer”, a crime drama with a heck of a cast. It was filmed in 2017 and was originally supposed to open in Spring 2018. Well, I’m here to inform you that it wasn’t worth the wait.
Joel Kinnaman stars as Pete Koslow. He’s an ex-con now working undercover for the FBI on a drug investigation. But on this pivotal day things start spinning out of control. Plans get thrown out the window. As a result, personalities, attitudes and strategies shift. And Pete, his wife Sophia (Ana de Armas) and their daughter Anna are now in danger.
Rosamund Pike plays the lead FBI agent on the case. This isn’t one of her strongest cinematic characters. Clive Owen plays her boss. It’s a thankless, cardboard cut-out role. The best performance is delivered by Common as a NYPD detective who’s trying to solve the puzzle on his own. He gives “The Informer” a little edge and energy that this otherwise dull and largely forgettable film sorely lacks.
This is Italian actor Andrea Di Stefano’s second directorial effort. He gets no help from a script that’s unnecessarily complex early and over-explanatory/overblown late. I’m sure the detailed and descriptive style of the screenplay worked much better in the novel it’s based on.
Add “The Informer” to the long list of things to blame on the pandemic. There’s a good chance this movie would have remained in the can if there wasn’t a COVID-19 content vacuum to fill.
