Confidential Informant Review: A Woeful Crime Thriller

A terminally ill cop and his trusted partner hatch a plan to have him killed in the line of duty, thus clearing his debts and financially securing his beloved family. Confidential Informant is a gritty crime drama with a relevant theme. Police officers risk their lives for low pay and meager retirement benefits. The film doesn’t craft a compelling narrative to support its cause. Shoddy camera work, murky lighting, and a grating score hinder what could have been impactful. A puzzling climax also makes little sense after a long build up.

Set in 1995 New York City, Narcotics Lieutenant Kevin Hickey (Mel Gibson) opens with a frank statement. Cops work diligently for the public good but aren’t treated fairly when their chips are cashed. His voiceover introduces the grizzled Tom Moran (Dominic Purcell) and alcoholic Mike Thorton (Nick Stahl). Both men served as Marines in the Iraq War before joining the force. Tom saved Nick’s life in combat. They were an inseparable team that always had each other’s back.

Carlos (Erik Valdez), a heroin addict and confidential informant, phones in a tip to the narcotics squad. Drug dealers and their girlfriends are cutting cocaine in a seedy apartment. Tom and Nick lead the takedown. They smash through the door and subdue the criminals after a fierce firefight. The plot thickens as one of the dealers knows the identity of a cop killer. Tom and Nick shake them down at the precinct to cut a deal.

Dominic Purcell as Tom

Lionsgate

Internal Affairs Officer William Learner (Russell Richardson) doesn’t think much of the hard-charging Tom and Nick. They break the rules. Hickey, also his commander, reminds William that the guys on the street need to use everything in their arsenal. William keeps a watchful eye after Tom and Nick’s interrogation tactics.

Tom hunches over in pain while playing baseball with his young song. His wife Anna (Kate Bosworth) begs him to see a doctor. Tom already knows the awful truth. He has stomach cancer and won’t survive to Christmas. A night drinking with a disgruntled veteran officer gives Tom a novel idea. Getting killed on duty meant his full salary, medical benefits, and a police union scholarship for his family. Nick refuses to take part in the deadly scheme. How can he let his brother die? A barbecue with Tom and Anna reminds Nick of the stakes. He’ll help him commit suicide, but they need to find someone to pull the trigger.

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Confidential Informant pulls no punches in portraying the harsh reality of drug addiction. Carlos becomes a ragged, self-loathing shell of a man injecting heroin in a squalid room. He suffers another cruel twist that also seals his fate. Tom and Nick have found the perfect accomplice to their scheme. Valdez, in the film’s strongest performance, embodies hitting rock bottom after losing everything he holds dear.

Kate Bosworth as Anna

Lionsgate

Bosworth barely registers as a blip here. We see Anna making smalltalk with Tom, cooking breakfast, and briefly in the tragic aftermath. Her character needed to have a believable presence. Anna’s treated like a housewife sighting. She is the embodiment of Tom’s sacrifice and supposed emotional core of the film. That can’t be true if she’s used like a prop. It’s almost as if Bosworth’s scenes were cut, or she had limited time for the shoot. The stripper (Arielle Raycene) that cavorts topless with a drunken Nick seemingly has more screen time.

William’s dogged pursuit of Tom and Nick is a stretch. He tracks them like a bloodhound from the start. William’s got an issue with the narcs, but the film never explains why apart from his rigid decorum. There’s no initial justification for adamance. Multiple scenes depict William and Hickey arguing about the virtues of law enforcement. William’s a stickler for the rules under any condition. Hickey doesn’t mind a cop getting dirty to finish the job. This back and forth becomes tedious, especially when the outcome is obvious.

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Director/co-writer Michael Oblowitz (Frank and Ava, Heavy Water) makes odd style choices. Confidential Informant looks dark, hazy, and poorly defined. The intention is to make everything cloudy and opaque as a nod to the questionable nature of Tom’s decision. The only brightly lit scenes are the fleeting moments with Anna. They signify the happiness that Tom and Nick are hoping to attain. That’s good in theory but results in a whole lot of squinting. The film fails in its noir attempt.

Failure in Poor Execution

A blaring score pummels your eardrums like a toddler with a synth keyboard. It almost drove me to the mute button. Oblowitz’s search for a hard edge results in pure annoyance. A motorcycle revving its engine around an unmarked car is akin to aural torture. The sound effects are equally unpleasant. Confidential Informant is a woefully uneven film. It didn’t have to be. There’s a decent premise and capable cast, but the failure lies in poor execution.

Confidential Informant is a production of BondIt Media Capital, Buffalo 8 Productions, Grindstone Entertainment Group, and Red Sea Media. It’s currently available on demand and digital from Lionsgate.

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