One for action junkies

THE INFORMER: JOEL KINNAMAN WELL-DEVELOPED, BELIEVABLE HERO

A man’s battle to keep his family safe while caught in the crossfire.

The Informer tackles the seedy underworld of informers, crooked cops, New York drug lords and prison gangs, all wrapped into one violent package.

Director Andrea di Stefano does not stint on the action and bloodletting here and for adrenaline junkies, this is the place to be as we observe one man, a former Special Ops soldier named Pete Koslow (Joel Kinnaman), go about his everyday business. And it’s not pretty to watch.

Before the narrative slips into its hectic, no-holds-barred trajectory, we are informed that Koslow was jailed after a bar room fight to protect his beautiful wife (Ana de Armas). He has been given a second chance by the FBI, however, to become an informer and that’s when we first meet him.

He is forced to employ his formidable covert skills in an operation that is geared to finally take down the notorious General, a ruthless Polish gangster and the most powerful crime boss in New York.

However, as in every slick movie, the FBI sting which was meant to finally earn Koslow his freedom, results in the death of an undercover New York police department (NYPD) cop and the entire shape of the game changes. Koslow finds himself caught in the crossfire between the mob and the FBI. The General insists Koslow takes the heat and sends him back to prison to spearhead a drug operation from inside, and the FBI affirms that going back to jail to do the General’s bidding is the only way for Koslow to keep his deal with them alive.

The convoluted plot sees Koslow trapped in a world of impossible choices and he must put his own plan into action to escape the clutches of three of New York City’s most powerful organisations – the Mob, the NYPD and the FBI – in order to save himself and his family.

The plot thickens when a NYPD cop (Common), investigating the death of the undercover cop, starts to sniff around. The Informer moves at a brisk pace as tension is carefully developed and Kinnaman has all the right moves to produce a believable hero in Koslow. As action films go, this one rises above the level of most – even though some of the ideas and action sequences are derivative.