Confidential Informant

... who should not concern themselves with this kind of subject matter and Who means really well and had good ideas about what is fair and equitable in life

• but he does not as yet have the wherewithal to really put it across
• so yes the entire exercise feels childish to an adult viewer of average or above average intelligence

Usually you can say about a film it is good or it is bad; here you cannot as it is both

The ideas are sound and interesting the premise excellent and a critique of a system which is by design unfair

• the way it is put across tho is very sketchy like a blueprint of an effort with the details skimped over. No meat on those bones; just the skeleton. Was the budget really basic? It certainly feels it..

Gibson here is more than a cameo but not hugely so ... he is his usual mix of charm integrity and anarchic humourist; he does his job .... the others are adequate but not sterling

The overall feel is that of a TV movie ... watchable but no great shakes.

Forget about the poster, thinking that this might be another great Mel Gibson dirty cop movie. NOT. Mel Gibson is only starring in this movie for a few lousy minutes, that's all.

The bad: the rest of this movie is filled with C-listed actors, who usually only star in television series and the sorts. This is a new low for Mel Gibson. Why did he have to choose such an inferior movie to star in? Is he running on lower ground? I hope not.

More bad: this movie has NOTHING going for it. It's terribly amateurish. Incredibly cheap looking. But most important of all, there is ZERO thrill or suspense.

Let's forget this was ever made and I hope Mel Gibson gets offered some better roles next time...

"You made me miss my Yankees game"

Probably the worst cop movie I've ever seen and worst movie I've seen this year. This actually made Bruce Willis' Detective Knight trilogy that he did right before his retirement seem better in comparison and those movies are pretty awful so that's a big accomplishment. If I put this on my 2023 Ranked list it would go right at the bottom right next to Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey. Despite the three names on the poster none of them are the lead. The true lead of this is Nick Stahl and every scene he supposedly shares with Mel Gibson they're shot separately and are never actually shown to be in the same shot together which makes me think they never actually interacted when shooting this movie or the camerawork is just so awful that it looks like they weren't even in the same room together when they actually were.

A new low for everyone involved even Dominic Purcell who has been doing this type of garbage his whole career. Who I really feel bad for is both Nick Stahl and Mel Gibson who both deserve much better than this bottom of the barrel trash. If you enjoy crappy camerawork, murky lighting and a grating score Confidential Informant is the movie for you.

I feel bad for the stellar cast that sadly, even they couldn't save this poorly executed mess. I really liked the concept of the story - apparently it's based on actual events (as per closing credits), and in the hands of a better filmmaker, this story could've and should've shined.

But sadly, experienced cinematographer, and producer and director of this film, Michael Oblowitz - with an astonishing 36 prior directorial credits, still hasn't learned how to make a compelling, viewable and engaging film. As a cinematographer, he failed miserably with his choices of horrible color palettes, murky lighting, outdated slow-mo shots and bad camera angles, and he failed even more with his horrible directing, laughable action choreography, shoddy camera work, lackluster editing, and even worse cast direction. His slow pacing made the normally comfortable 88 min runtime feel never-ending.

All these flaws and lack of cinematic creativity, as well as the constant overbearing and unfitting score, hindered what could have been an impactful and suspense-filled narrative. A fifth grade drama class could come up with a better film. I think Oblowitz should find a new hobby, like basket-weaving, and leave filmmaking to those who have the knack. It's a very generous 5/10 all going to the amazing cast who tried their best with what they had to work with. Even if you're a fan like I am of Gibson, Purcell, and the always stunning Kate Bosworth, do yourself a favor and skip this cringe-worthy production, it's not worth your time.

.

This is another one of those endless Lionsgate movies which cast one star (Mel Gibson is this case -- who seems to be making a lot of these movies lately) that are churned out, for what audience I dont know.

I cannot imagine that this was released in movie theatres. Maybe internationally and streamed here? Beats me.

There's also some B level actor who's been in a TV cop series who shows up in this. It's clear that the movie is Gibsen's money-for-nothing film. He's barely in it and obviously got paid solely for his star power. Kate Boswirth is there too but she has little to do except show up and pretend to cry.

In all, the film reaks of cheapness and poor directing.