¨ Mark Whitacre, secret agent 0014. Cause I'm twice as smart as 007.¨
(6/10)The Informant is based on Kurt Eichenwald`s book of the same name which is founded on the true story of a man who worked as an informer for the FBI helping them gather evidence on the company he worked at, for price-fixing accusations. Academy award winning director, Steven Soderbergh (who has directed Ocean´s Eleven, El Che, Erin Brocovich, Traffic, among many others) directs this film, although giving it a much lighter and comedic tone than the book. The movie works because of Matt Damon; his performance is on the mark and he creates a very silly character who at the same time seems to be smart and successful. This is not one of Soderbergh´s best films, but it isn`t bad either. It has a pretty smart dialogue thanks to a decent screenplay from Scott Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum), but the soundtrack was kind of distracting and gave it a sort of cartoonish feeling to the movie. This is not a laugh out loud comedy, but you will find yourself smiling from time to time thanks to Matt Damon who creates an original and strange character. This is a different kind of movie, and it is pretty original because it has Soderbergh`s touch, but it drags from time to time so don`t expect a great film and you might actually enjoy it.
The Informant takes place in the early 90`s in Decatur, Illinois where Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) worked as the Vice president of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a very powerful company that converted corn into lysine, a food additive, and ranked at number 44 among the Fortune 500 companies. Whitacre had a very high position, but after his wife, Ginger (Melanie Lynskey, known for her role as Rose in Two and a Half Men), suggested that he should tell the government about the price-fixing that was going on in ADM, he became the highest ranked executive to become a whistle blower and work as an informer for the FBI. He meets with FBI agent, Brian Sheppard (Scott Bakula, star of the Quantum Leap 90`s TV series) and mentions what is going on in the company. Brian tells Mark to go undercover and gather as much information as he can in order to collect enough evidence about the price-fixing. The case is so big that Brian is assigned a partner, Bob Herndon (played by Joel McHale, host of The Soup), and together they work with Mark for almost three years gathering video and audio evidence about price-fixing meetings all over the world. Meanwhile, Mark has a hidden agenda of his own and gets more and more tangled up in his world of lies.
The Informant focuses on Mark Whitacre and that is why the film works so well, because Matt Damon has created a sort of anti-hero who we are not convinced about liking or not. His character creates mixed feelings and Damon really gives a terrific performance here. The film is always narrated by him in a pretty unique way and we can understand him a little more through these voiceovers in the movie. He is a difficult character to understand and is mentally ill as well, but at the same time it is difficult not to like him as well. The subject matter is pretty serious, but Soderbergh manages to mix it with comedy and that is why the film works better. However, it does drag at some points and the soundtrack is kind of distracting. I don`t think this is a great film, but it is smart enough to enjoy thanks in most part to Matt Damon and a good script. This is not a film for everybody; if you are easily bored then this is probably not a movie for you, but if you like good and original scripts, along with interesting performances, than you might find this to be an enjoyable experience.
The Informant! [Blu-ray]
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