The Informant!

Summary

“It’s like ‘Rising Sun!’ The Crichton novel! It’s just like that!”

Warner has been making some interesting moves recently on the 4K UHD front. Last month they released two of Steven Soderbergh’s more polarizing pictures – The Good German and The Informant! While I was not completely won over by The Good German (which can be gleaned from my review of that title,) I liked The Informant! when I first saw it back in 2009. Similar to how Soderbergh secured funding for The Good German directly after Ocean’s Twelve had made Warner a tremendous amount of money, Soderbergh secured funding for The Informant! after Ocean’s Thirteen had made Warner a tremendous amount of money.

The Informant! is much less experimental than The Good German, but it still took big risks in how it told its story. The basis of the film was the true crime book by journalist Kurt Eichenwald titled The Informant: A True Story. Focusing on the story of Mark Whitacer, who was a senior executive at Archer Daniels Midland turned unlikely F.B.I. informant, the book is said to read like a journalistic thriller (I have not read the book, so I can only speculate.) Adapting the novel, Scott Z. Burns worked with Soderbergh to turn the story into a dark comedy. The resulting picture, which was made for $22 million, was a modest box office success with $41.8 million in receipts. Critical reception was for the most part positive, while audience reactions to the picture were mixed. I enjoyed the picture in 2009, so I was happy to revisit it on 4K UHD over fifteen years later. In my opinion, the film has aged well.

Decatur, Illinois – 1992

Mark Whitacre works for Archer Daniels Midland, a company that specializes in products made from corn. Mark receives a report where they have been losing $7 million in the Lyceine business over the last few months due to some Dextrose failing to perform. There is some sort of a disease in their samples that is killing the Dextrose. Mark feels pressure from his boss Mick Andreas (Tom Papa) to turn around the production so that the company won’t fall from #34 in the Fortune 500 to #35. At the office, Mark receives a call from Japan from a Mr. Nakamata. Mark walks into Mick’s office and explains that Nakamata knew everything about the seven million dollar losses in Lyceine over the last few months. Apparently, there is a perpetrator that is causing the disease in their product. For ten million dollars he will reveal the bio-agent used and the identity of the double-crosser. Mark’s boss asks him to see what he can talk him down to, because it may actually be worth making a deal. When Mark meets with his bosses again, they have brought the FBI in. This sets the stage for a very strange story of how Mark Whitacre exposed the industry for price-fixing, while also blinding the F.B.I. to his own criminal activity.

The Informant! tells the story of Mark Whitacre with an eye towards highlighting the more ridiculous aspects of his numerous deceptions. While the story on paper may not have screamed out that this movie should have been made as a comedy, I think the film is largely successful at both drawing laughs whilst capably relaying the most important details of the story. In fact, Mark Whitacer himself actually approved of the way in which the facts were relayed in the picture (which is honestly pretty wild.) The script by Scott Z. Burns does an excellent job of condensing a years long investigation by the F.B.I. and the resulting troubles for Mark Whitacre into a runtime of less than two hours. By focusing on the more ridiculous aspects of the investigation, such as Whitacre’s constant taping of his meetings with his cohorts, the movie hits a darkly comedic stride. That said, this picture is absolutely cringe-inducing in a similar way to comedies such as Meet the Parents, because the main character of the film is incapable of telling the truth. That may limit the replayability of the picture, but that is by no fault of the script which is very cleverly written. The reviews from audience members were somewhat divisive because people had trouble adjusting to the tone which is darkly comedic while still completely grounded in the reality of the case. The comedic elements are never extremely zany, so some found the picture to be lacking. Personally, I thought the case at hand was interesting and the small comedic moments were pretty funny due to the absurdity of much of what actually occurred. 

The direction of the actors by Soderbergh is excellent with Matt Damon fully investing in the role of Mark Whitacre. Whitacre is a truly confounding character, and Damon brings him to life. Damon had movie star good looks and action star abilities, so it was interesting to see him play such a “regular” corporate family man. The cast surrounding Damon is very good and doesn’t rely on huge names. First off, Scott Bakula is great in the movie as F.B.I. Special Agent Brian Shepard. I wish that Scott Bakula would land more roles in major pictures because he is extremely capable and very likable. I grew up watching him on Quantum Leap, but I had always hoped he would have landed more large roles after his performance in Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions. Melanie Lynskey is perfectly cast as Mark’s loving and extremely understanding wife Ginger. Joel McHale also shines in the picture as F.B.I. Special Agent Bob Herndon. Other standout cast members include Tony Hale, Patton Oswalt, Tom Wilson, Scott Adsit, Tom Papa, Ann Dowd, Clancy Brown, Paul F. Tompkins, and Andy Daly. You probably noticed that many of the names listed above are prominent comedic actors. The reason the film works is that all of these comedic talents are cast to play as straight men against the outlier of Matt Damon’s Whitacre. Because the film doesn’t wink to the audience or change the reality of the script, the comedic elements land, or at least they landed for me. The music by Marvin Hamlisch, the famous composer for classic films such as The Sting and The Way We Were, brings a light touch to the proceedings and is another reason why the film feels like a comedy. Hamlisch did a great job on the score, but that should really come as no surprise. It was his last original score before his death in 2012. Steven Soderbergh does a commendable job on the cinematography (under the alias of Peter Andrews) for the picture which manages to take us back into the early Nineties, while having a retro quality to its approach. 

Overall – The Informant! is probably a bit too cringe-inducing to warrant repeat viewings for most audiences, but I had no difficulty watching the picture again after a fifteen year gap, finding a lot to enjoy about it the second time around. Fans of Alexander Payne’s Election and Michael Mann’s The Insider will find The Informant! feels like the middle point between those two films. It is a strange and enjoyable little picture that I had fun revisiting. I appreciate Warner for deciding to give this quaint title a 4K release.

Video

The 4K presentation of The Informant! is a good leap forward from its 2009 VC-1 encoded Blu-ray release. Presented in 1.78:1 with HDR10 and Dolby Vision, there is not much room for improvement in terms of the presentation of the film. The picture was shot in 4.5K resolution on a RED ONE camera, but its theatrical release came from a 2K intermediate. This always is tricky for reviews, because people can shout and scream about this being an upscale rather than a true 4K presentation, but from what I can tell Soderbergh personally signed off on this release. To my eyes, on my big 4K projector screen, The Informant! looks very healthy in this presentation. Fans are going to be very happy with how this looks.

Audio

Like the video presentation, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track capably replicates the original sound design of the film. Marvin Hamlisch’s score has a whimsical quality to it that absolutely adds to both the retro feel of the picture and the comedic tone. It sounds great on Warner’s 5.1 track. This film is basically all dialogue based, but the surround track feels immersive due to the strong scoring by Hamlisch. This track should be essentially identical to what was heard on the 2009 release, but I can’t imagine anyone being upset at this track. 

Supplements:

• Audio Commentary with director Steven Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns
• Deleted Scenes 
• Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video: 4.5

Audio: 4.5

Special Features: 3

Overall – 3.75/5

The Informant! is a polarizing comedy from Steven Soderbergh that tells the true story of F.B.I. informant Mark Whitacre who revealed that major food companies were price fixing on a massive scale, but failed to disclose to the F.B.I. his own criminal activities. Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns had a unique approach to adapting Kurt Eichenwald’s book The Informant: A True Story. While the film does follow the actual events of the case closely, the story is played as a dark comedy. The resulting film was critically well received, but audience reception was mixed. I have enjoyed the picture since I first viewed it in 2009, although its cringe-inducing nature probably limits replay value. Matt Damon does a great job in the lead role. The picture feels like a concoction made of Alexander Payne’s Election and Michael Mann’s The Insider. For fans of the film, this 4K UHD is a significant improvement visually over the dated 2009 VC-1 encoded Blu-ray. 

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.