Taking into account this L.A. set multi-stranded ensemble piece was a complete flop in America and only got a very limited cinematic release in the UK (strange considering it arguably has the best cast of any film in 2009), it's not bad at all. The 80's feel is very much like the book and the soundtrack is terrific.
The segments range from interesting to pointless; I enjoyed the stuff with Jon Foster, Austin Nichols and Amber Heard, who is absolutely stunning! The story with Mickey Rourke and the late Brad Renfro is good too but perhaps the most interesting is the one with Lou Taylor Pucci as Tim who struggles to bond with his dad (Chris Isaak) in their trip to Hawaii. The performances between the two are great and this part is very faithful to the book.
As for the pointless ones; Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger and Winona Ryder just turn up for their pay cheques while Rhys Ifans is in the film for about 10 seconds! I was disappointed they cancelled the vampire scenes, it would've been great to see Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) as Jamie. I seen an interview with Jon Foster (who plays Graham) and even he was confused to why they dropped the story, the producers must've bottled it.
I'm still trying to understand why this film has had such a quiet release and why barely anyone has heard of it. I just think the producers never spent enough on promoting the film after they interfered too much and totally soured screenwriter Nicholas Jarecki and writer Bret Easton Ellis' vision (who left the project after it drifted too far away from his novel). Ellis also claimed afterwards that director Gregor Jordan didn't get the point of the novel and ended up turning the film into an 'Australian soap opera', losing the brutality, cynicism and satire of the source material. However, apparently there was a 160 minute cut of the film he was pretty happy with and hopefully we'll see it someday (I have my doubts though). I can't help but think with all the stories and characters it would've been a much better fit to have it as like a 10-part TV series, focusing on a main character in each and have everything interweaving, could've been cool.
However, despite all the production problems and the general critical mauling I think The Informers is a decent character piece thats worth checking out, especially for the standout performances by Jon Foster and Lou Taylor Pucci. The downbeat ending is also pretty effective and along with many moments in the film, stays with you for a few days.
The segments range from interesting to pointless; I enjoyed the stuff with Jon Foster, Austin Nichols and Amber Heard, who is absolutely stunning! The story with Mickey Rourke and the late Brad Renfro is good too but perhaps the most interesting is the one with Lou Taylor Pucci as Tim who struggles to bond with his dad (Chris Isaak) in their trip to Hawaii. The performances between the two are great and this part is very faithful to the book.
As for the pointless ones; Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger and Winona Ryder just turn up for their pay cheques while Rhys Ifans is in the film for about 10 seconds! I was disappointed they cancelled the vampire scenes, it would've been great to see Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) as Jamie. I seen an interview with Jon Foster (who plays Graham) and even he was confused to why they dropped the story, the producers must've bottled it.
I'm still trying to understand why this film has had such a quiet release and why barely anyone has heard of it. I just think the producers never spent enough on promoting the film after they interfered too much and totally soured screenwriter Nicholas Jarecki and writer Bret Easton Ellis' vision (who left the project after it drifted too far away from his novel). Ellis also claimed afterwards that director Gregor Jordan didn't get the point of the novel and ended up turning the film into an 'Australian soap opera', losing the brutality, cynicism and satire of the source material. However, apparently there was a 160 minute cut of the film he was pretty happy with and hopefully we'll see it someday (I have my doubts though). I can't help but think with all the stories and characters it would've been a much better fit to have it as like a 10-part TV series, focusing on a main character in each and have everything interweaving, could've been cool.
However, despite all the production problems and the general critical mauling I think The Informers is a decent character piece thats worth checking out, especially for the standout performances by Jon Foster and Lou Taylor Pucci. The downbeat ending is also pretty effective and along with many moments in the film, stays with you for a few days.