Movie Reviews

‘Confidential Informant’ review: Potentially interesting premise goes nowhere

How much do cops earn a year?

June 27, 2023

The opening of Confidential Informant sets up a potentially interesting theme. Truth is fluid when you are a police officer and sometimes you do what you know is necessary. Detective Tom Moran (Dominic Purcell, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) has stomach cancer and has little time to live. When he devises a plan to help his family, he learns that faking your own death can have serious repercussions.

There is a good story here, but the writing is all over the place. (There are three credited writers.) The how and why is shown to the audience making the central focus become whether the plan will work. Unfortunately, the cat and mouse aspect of Confidential Informant never quite develops.

What is left is a flawed thriller that is more frustrating than entertaining. Much of the time seems to be spent trying to justify corruption since the Internal Affairs agent is often presented as the villain. The characters that are supposed to be the good guys go beyond tragic heroes and are pretty much impossible to cheer for.

Regrettably, even a very capable cast is unable to salvage things. Nick Stahl (What Josiah Saw) arguably has the best performance, but his character is completely unlikeable. Mel Gibson (Braveheart) seems to just be there for the name value and Kate Bosworth (House of Darkness) is underused.

It all adds up to a difficult watch. More time is spent wondering what Confidential Informant is trying to say instead of watching it play out. This is not a recipe for success when the plot is trying to present more visceral thrills. With questionable motivations and decisions, there is little for audiences to latch on to.