The Informant! 4K Review (Warner Bros.)

The Informant! is a 2009 dark comedy shot and directed by Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Ocean’s franchise, Out of Sight, Traffic, The Limey, Che, Contagion, Black Bag, The Good German, and The Underneath). It was written by Scott Z. Burns (The Report, Side Effects, Contagion, and The Bourne Ultimatum). It’s based on the novel and produced by author Kurt Eichenwald. It was executive produced by George Clooney (Rock Star, Far from Heaven, Welcome to Collinwood, Criminal, The Jacket, A Scanner Darkly, Wind Chill, The Tender Bar, Argo, and Insomnia). The budget was $22,000,000 and it grossed $41,771,168 at the box office!!!! The ambitious Mark Whitacre (played by: Matt Damon from the Ocean’s franchise, Bourne franchise, Good Will Hunting, Dogma, The Departed, Saving Private Ryan, and The Talented Mr. Ripley) is secretly rolling tape during a private meeting of corporate honchos who are illegally fixing the price of all food additives. Meeting after meeting, Mark keeps rolling tape after tape. The highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history. He’s been a spy during these shady times but it can all backfire quickly. He’s so sure the threatening tapes will make him a U.S. hero. What really went wrong here???? The Informant! is a comedy that’s honestly not that funny. Yes, it gets darker at times but it feels more like a drama. The script focuses on someone who’s desperate to be something special so he sells out the people around him trying to get praise for it. Plus it has some surprises and twists to it. Director Steven Soderbergh proves can do almost any genre and he consistently changes it up when it comes to his work. I think he just missed it for this one because it barely got any laughs for me. The trailers and marketing made it look like a totally different movie than what it was. I do like the nods to some of the older spy films in this. Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre is a completely different type of role for the actor. He is unlikable and not trust worthy to anyone. Damon is great being a weasel that will do whatever it takes to look like a good guy and hero from this situation. The Informant has plenty of familiar faces in it. The supporting cast includes Eddie Jemison (Ocean’s franchise), Tony Hale (Arrested Development), Frank Welker (Transformers franchise), Candy Clark (American Graffiti), Patton Oswalt (Big Fan), Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption), Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap), Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets), Joel McHale (Community), Rick Overton (Willow), Tom Wilson (Back to the Future franchise), Scott Adsit (30 Rock), Ann Cusack (A League of Their Own), and Ann Dowd (Hereditary). It’s an interesting look into corruption in big corporate businesses. The Informant plays out like a wannabe spy drama with humor and suspense thrown in the mix. It almost feels like two movies out together as one as the tone changes for the 2nd half. The performances and all the departments did an excellent job on the production. It’s just kinda slow and boring for the most part, it tried too hard at times. I thought The Informant was decent but I don’t honestly see myself revisiting it much in the future. Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Warner Bros Pictures! This 2160p (1.78:1) transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is a nice upgrade compared to it’s older blu ray and DVD home video releases. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on the UHD. The audio is solid here but don’t expect anything crazy because it’s not that type of film. All of the dialogue is crisp, the lies are elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns. Soderbergh is one of the best film makers when it comes to stuff like this. All of his tracks for his work are excellent. He’s always very detailed about everything. He provides all kinds of inside stories and information that you didn’t know about the production. Burns is a talented writer and he adds his thoughts here as well. Honestly, I probably enjoyed this more than the actual feature. It has 4 different “Deleted Scenes” that are a little over 6 minutes. I can see why all of these didn’t make the final cut but they are still a cool extra to have on here. It has a “Theatrical Trailer” which I believe wasn’t on the other home video releases. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!