Fighting against corrupt system

The Informer

15, 113mins

HHHHH

The long arm of the law chokeholds an honourable man to the brink of unconscious submission in director Andrea Di Stefano’s absorbing crime thriller.

The Informer drip feeds us suspense as a heavily tattooed ex-con calls upon his training as a Special Forces operative to meet violence and intimidation with precisely targeted retribution.

Ex-con Pete Koslow (Joel Kinnaman) works as a snitch for FBI agent Erica Wilcox (Rosamund Pike,

right), who is keen to impress her boss (Clive Owen) by taking down Polish drug lord Rysard Klimek (Eugene Lipinski), aka The General.

Koslow has successfully infiltrated Klimek’s inner circle and is poised to supply evidence linking the kingpin to a 6kg shipment of fentanyl.

The deal goes sour when a potential buyer is unmasked as undercover NYPD detective Daniel Gomez (Arturo Castro).

Klimek’s trigger-happy lieutenant Stazek (Mateusz Kosciukiewicz) kills the cop and Koslow faces the cold reality of a shallow grave unless he does his Polish master’s bidding behind the bars of his old prison.

The FBI exploits Koslow’s dire predicament by promising him freedom in exchange for evidence of The General’s involvement.

Meanwhile, tenacious NYPD detective Grens (Common) begins asking uncomfortable questions about FBI involvement in the cover-up of the murder of a serving police officer.

The Informer is a slickly executed tale of one man battling a corrupt system.

Di Stefano confidently sustains tension, relying on her cast (and particularly Kinnaman) to paper over an occasional, troublesome plot divot, such as one character silently materialising in the nick of time.

Pike is a pleasing counterpoint to the testosterone-fuelled posturing of predominantly male co-stars, who are more likely to settle an argument with a crudely fashioned shiv than razor-sharp diplomacy.