Confidential Informant
Critic Alec Toombs won't keep it confidential when informing y'all that this crime drama is no great shakes despite a game Nick Stahl performance.
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I dig a good crime picture. I’ve also enjoyed the recent spate of movies that have been nostalgic for the early-to-mid 1990s … especially ones that incorporate rap music from the era. “Confidential Informant” (now available on VOD and in select theaters beginning Friday, June 30) has both of these elements on paper. Unfortunately, it’s so riddled with clichés and morally bankrupt that it can’t truly succeed on either front.
It’s 1994 in New York City. Desert Storm veterans Tom Moran (Dominic Purcell) and Mike Thorton (Nick Stahl) have returned home and become narcotics detectives. The officers are willing to bend the rules if it’s for the greater good and their commanding officer Lt. Kevin Hickey (Mel Gibson, chewing scenery and smoking cigs behind a desk) generally turns a blind eye to their misdeeds.
Moran has a wife Anna (an underused Kate Bosworth), a young son, crippling debt and mounting medical problems. Thorton has dalliances with exotic dancer Ginger (Arielle Raycene) and an alcohol and drug dependency. Both men are probably too close to their confidential informant Carlos (Erik Valdez), but they have his best interest at heart. They’re willing to get him into rehab whenever he’s ready and often send money to his ex-wife and kid down in Puerto Rico.
A scheme is hatched between the three men that will ensure both Moran and Carlos’ families are taken care of should something happen to them. This plot draws the attention of Internal Affairs investigator William Learner (Russell Richardson).
“Confidential Informant” is directed by Michael Oblowitz and co-written by Michael Kaycheck, Brooke Nasser and Oblowitz. Oblowitz made a bit of a splash in the late ‘90s with the Billy Zane/Gina Gershon-starring Jim Thompson adaptation “This World, Then the Fireworks” before directing Steven Seagal direct-to-video offerings (“The Foreigner,” “Out for a Kill”) and Syfy shark movie “Hammerhead” in the early-to-mid aughts.
From a writing and filmmaking standpoint, there’s not a whole lot to admire about “Confidential Informant.” Purcell, Stahl and Gibson get saddled with maudlin, morose voiceover monologues that shoot for noir but are the picture’s nadir. It’s also somewhat disturbing that the movie seems to condone and/or justify police corruption … especially in the wake of these past few years.
If there’s one reason to watch “Confidential Informant” it’s Stahl. I’ve long been a fan of the actor. He was electric in Larry Clark’s “Bully” and made for a pretty cool John Connor in Jonathan Mostow’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.” Stahl had some lean years where he struggled with addiction, but has been doing really solid work of late with “Hunter Hunter” (review here) and “What Josiah Saw” (review here). The actor is better than and elevates the material when given the opportunity to flex his performative muscles. It was also kinda neat to see Stahl reunited with his “The Man Without a Face” co-star/director Gibson. Here’s hoping he gets a project worthy of his talents next time out because I won’t keep it confidential when informing y’all that this ain’t it.