Several years before leading her own action-packed John Wick spinoff movie, Ana de Armas shined in a crime thriller that has since been largely forgotten. Seven years after its release, however, the film is finding new audiences with a sudden surge on streaming.
The movie is The Informer, which barely anyone saw when it was released in movie theaters. It flopped hard with less than $3 million made at the box office against a $60 million budget. The flick is now available to stream on Starz, and it’s currently ranked at No. 9 overall for movies and TV shows on the streamer’s Amazon Channel (per FlixPatrol). It’s a small slice of redemption for the feature after hardly making a dent at the box office in 2019.
The Informer Has a Star-Studded Cast
Based on 2009’s Three Seconds novel by Roslund & Hellström, The Informer was directed by Italian filmmaker Andrea Di Stefano (Escobar: Paradise Lost). Joel Kinnaman (Suicide Squad) stars as Peter Koslow, an ex-con turned undercover informant for the FBI, while Ana de Armas (Ballerina) plays Sofia, his wife. The film features several other big names as part of its cast, including Rosamund Pike (The Wheel of Time), Common (Hell on Wheels), Clive Owen (American Crime Story), and Sam Spruell (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms).
In the thriller, Kinnaman’s Peter is forced to return to prison after a drug deal goes wrong in order to protect both the operation and his own family. Facing the mob, corrupt FBI agents, and a determined NYPD detective, Peter needs to use his survival instincts to stay alive, expose corruption, and make it back to his wife and daughter. The story blends elements of prison thrillers, undercover crime dramas, and conspiracy stories.
The Informer Came and Went in Theaters in 2019
The Informer had fairly mixed reviews, but was overall given a fresh approval rating of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is in line with what filmgoers thought, as the audience score is just slightly lower, at 62%. Many viewers were surprised that it didn’t get more attention in years past, given how many recognizable names are attached, with one audience review calling The Informer the “most star-studded film I’ve never heard of.”
“It’s no secret that cinephiles and action-lovers of all stripes have missed the summer movie experience,” Peter Jarowey of Vertical Entertainment and Zach Tarica of The Forest Road Company said in a statement about the film just ahead of its release, expecting a much bigger turnout. “That’s why we’re thrilled to finally bring The Informer to domestic audiences – a star-studded, twisty spy thriller that’s bound to bring the same white-knuckle, heart-pumping premium experience we’ve come to expect from a theater to the couches in your own home.”
The Informer is streaming on Starz.
- Release Date
-
August 30, 2019
- Runtime
-
109 minutes
- Writers
-
Andrea Di Stefano, Rowan Joffe
- Producers
-
Basil Iwanyk, Gabriel Napora, Yas Taalat, Andrea Scarso, Anders Erdén, Vishal Rungta, Simon Williams, Niclas Salomonsson, Lee Broda, Mark Lane, Jeff Rice, Shelley Browning, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Shaun S. Sanghani, Jonathan Fuhrman, James Harris, Erica Lee, Ollie Madden, Robert Jones
-
-
Joel Kinnaman
Pete Koslow
-
-
