''The Informer'' is a 2019 British

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

film directed by Andrea Di Stefano and written by Matt Cook, based on the novel '' Three Seconds'' by

Roslund & Hellström Roslund & Hellström were a Swedish duo of crime fiction writers composed of journalist Anders Roslund (born 1961) and activist and author Börge Hellström (1957–2017). They were full-time writers from 2004 to Hellström's death in 2017. ...

. The film stars Joel Kinnaman,

Rosamund Pike Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...

, Common,

Ana de Armas Ana Celia de Armas Caso (; born 30 April 1988) is a Cuban and Spanish actress. She began her career in Cuba and had a leading role in the romantic drama '' Una rosa de Francia'' (2006). At age 18, she moved to Madrid, Spain, and starred in t ...

, and Clive Owen.

Plot

Several years ago, Peter Koslow was released early from prison on condition that he work as an undercover

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

for the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

field office. Having worked his way into a Polish crime organization, he is about to provide his handler, Special Agent Wilcox, with substantial evidence to indict crime boss Ryszard "The General" Klimek. Koslow is outfitted with a

wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

as he smuggles a large amount of

fentanyl Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is a very potent synthetic opioid used as a pain medication. Together with other drugs, fentanyl is used for anesthesia. It is also used illicitly as a recreational drug, sometimes mixed with heroin, cocain ...

through the Polish

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth c ...

's office with the intention of it being delivered to the General. However, Koslow's cohort Staszek learns of a potential buyer and instead veers off-plan. Meeting with the buyer, Koslow quickly deduces that he is an

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...

police officer. When tensions arise, the officer attempts to apprehend Koslow, but Staszek kills him. Listening to this over the wire, Koslow's handlers abandon him. Koslow and Staszek are brought before the General, and Koslow is told he will be required to return to prison in order to run the drug trade on the General's behalf. Initially reluctant, Koslow agrees after the lives of his wife and daughter are threatened. Wilcox informs Koslow that he will continue to act as an informant while imprisoned, and in return he will be freed upon completion. Meanwhile,

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

Detective Grens begins to investigate the murder of the undercover officer and suspects the Polish Mafia. He obtains security camera recordings of Koslow leaving the scene and the FBI vehicle driving by. The General and his wife visit with Koslow and his wife, Sofia, in preparation for Koslow's return to prison. The following day, Koslow breaks his

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

. Grens meets with Wilcox and Montgomery, who deny knowledge of the murder. He also speaks with Sofia, who refuses to divulge information about her husband. Meanwhile, Koslow begins his drug distribution but is thwarted by corrupt prison officer Slewitt who works for Smiley Phelps, the boss of the

prison gang A prison gang is an inmate organization that operates within a prison system. It has a corporate entity and exists into perpetuity. Its membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment. Prison officials and ot ...

who holds sway over the drug trade. Koslow is nearly killed until he reveals to Smiley that he is an informant working to take down the General, Smiley's competition. Koslow calls Wilcox for help, but she is unable to help after being ordered by Montgomery to "burn" Koslow to cover up the FBI's involvement in the operation that led to the murder of the undercover police officer. Koslow then calls Sofia, asking her to give Grens the secret audio recordings he taped while speaking with Wilcox. Wilcox reluctantly leaks to the General's attorney that Koslow is an FBI informant, and the General orders him and his family to be killed. Koslow is attacked and nearly killed by a Polish gangster but manages to subdue his assailant. In an act of desperation, he takes Slewitt hostage and renders him unconscious. Meanwhile, Wilcox confronts Sofia and takes possession of the tapes. At the prison, Montgomery has taken command of the hostage situation and Koslow, using his past experience as a U.S. Special Forces sniper, enacts a means of escape when he switches outfits with Slewitt and strategically places a propane tank behind them, causing a sniper to mistakenly kill Slewitt and hit the tank, triggering a massive explosion. Staszek and another Polish gangster attempt to kill Koslow's family, but Grens arrives and thwarts them. Grens is shot but Sofia saves him and both gangsters are ultimately killed. Koslow is transferred via ambulance and awakens to find that Wilcox is his escort. She allows Koslow to escape as retribution for her actions. In NYC, Wilcox confronts Montgomery and has him arrested after she wears a wire to record him threatening to kill Koslow to cover up his actions. Grens and Wilcox partner to help Koslow and protect his family, sending Koslow into hiding until the FBI investigation into the corruption is concluded and he can be a free man.

Cast

* Joel Kinnaman as Peter Koslow *

as Erica Wilcox * Common as Edward Grens * Clive Owen as Keith Montgomery *

as Sofia Koslow * Eugene Lipinski as Ryszard “The General” Klimek * Joanna Kaczyńska as Beata Klimek * Edwin de la Renta as Smiley Phelps *

Ruth Bradley Sharon Ruth Bradley is an Irish actress. She is best known for playing Emily Merchant in '' Primeval'' (2011) and Karen Voss in ''Humans'' (2015–18). She has also had recurring roles in ''Legend'' (6 episodes, 2006), '' The Innocence Project' ...

as Cat *

Sam Spruell Sam Spruell (born 1 January 1977) is a British actor. He is best known for playing villainous roles in film and television including Oleg Malankov in '' Taken 3'', Finn in '' Snow White and the Huntsman'' and Swarm in '' Doctor Who: Flux''. He a ...

as Slewitt *

Aylam Orian Aylam Orian is an American actor, who plays the role of Dr. Wilhelm Brücke, the high-ranking Nazi officer, occultist and series main antagonist, in the MGM limited web series ''Stargate Origins'' (2018). As a vegan and supporter of animal rights ...

as Andrzej Dziedzic * Karma Meyer as Anna Koslow * Mateusz Kościukiewicz as Staszek Cusik * Peter Parker Mensah as Officer Franklin * Arturo Castro as Daniel Gomez * Abdul-Ahad Patel as Vermin

Production

The film adaptation of ''Three Seconds'' was announced at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017. Filming took place in Pinewood Studios (UK), Iver Heath (UK), Gloucester Prison (UK) and Brooklyn, New York (US) in 2017.

Release

In September 2017,

Aviron Pictures Aviron Pictures was an American film production and distribution company founded by William Sadleir, founder of Clarius Entertainment (which, as the company went inactive shortly after his departure, Aviron can be considered a successor of) and ...

acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, while Warner Bros. handled British distribution rights to the film. It was released on 6 November 2020, in the United States. It was originally scheduled to be released on 17 August 2018, which was delayed until 1 February 2019, and then to 22 March 2019. It was then further delayed multiple times due to financial problems involving Aviron. The film's first delay due to financial issues was until 16 August 2019, before being delayed again, to 10 January 2020, and then to 13 March 2020, and then to 31 July 2020, and then to 6 November 2020. Redbox Entertainment and

Vertical Entertainment Vertical Entertainment is an American film distribution and production company founded by producers Richard B. "Rich" Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012. History In 2012, Rich Goldberg & Mitch Budin founded Vertical Entertainment, a film distribut ...

distributed the DVD and Blu-Ray in the United States on its Redbox kiosks on 18 December 2020.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics consensus reads: "''The Informer'' may prove a passable diversion for less demanding thriller fans, but most of its ingredients have been recycled from superior entries in the genre." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gives the film 3 out of 5 stars, and wrote: "It might have made better sense as an episodic drama on television but it is brash and watchable, its world reeking with cynicism and fear." Tim Robey of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, and wrote: "''The Informer'' is one of the year's more pleasant genre surprises: a clenched fist of a crime thriller in the mode of ''The Departed'' or ''The Town'', in which every element is just a notch smarter than you'd expect." Guy Lodge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "a surprisingly well-oiled genre machine" and says it is a film "that knows its limits, and works tidily within them".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Informer, The (2019 film) 2019 films 2010s crime drama films 2019 crime thriller films British crime drama films British crime thriller films Films based on Swedish novels StudioCanal films Warner Bros. films 2019 drama films Films produced by Basil Iwanyk Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation Films set in New York (state) Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department Thunder Road Films films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films English-language crime drama films English-language crime thriller films