"Die Informantin" or "The Informant" is a German television movie from 2016, so this one will soon have its fifth anniversary and apparently it was successful enough, so they made a sequel not much later. I am not entirely sure if I watched this film we have here for the first time today, but if I didn't, then the first time sure did not stay memorable. Could be that I saw it right after the release. However, I did watch the sequel not too long ago and I thought it was really really bad. Good thing probably they seem to keep it at two movies and there will be no third. But back to this first one here: The director is Philipp Leinemann and this is one of his most known career efforts. Admittedly, he did not work on too many films. The writer is Christof Reiling and he sure is the opposite of prolific. In terms of writing, he is only credited with this film here and also with the sequel, although I am not sure if he really worked on the second movie. "Idea" does not say too much. Leinemann did not return for the sequel, which was probably a good choice. The lead actress is Aylin Tezel and for her, this is also certainly among her most known works, maybe the number one even if we only talk films where she is the undisputed lead. She plays the title character and the major supporting players are Ken Duken and Suzanne von Borsody, although the one who left more of an impact for me was Timur Isik, who plays the main antagonist. Or maybe actually not a real antagonist if we see the film from Tezel's character's perspective. But his performance was one of not too many reason why I felt this film was not complete failure. There are many weak moments. von Borsody's character and her struggles with what the title character is allowed to know and what she isn't allowed to know felt really forced to give her character just any sense whatsoever. Her role is bigger in the sequel. As for Duken, he gets the somewhat romance story between his and Tezel's character and I honestly could have done totally without it. This one becomes more significant when the female protagonist becomes more involved in her undercover assignment than Duken's character wants her to be. Jealousy sure is an issue. I still think that this was a pretty weak inclusion overall too, but finding ot about Tezel's character's real motives and who is close to her heart at the very end saved it somehow and it felt more realistic again.
Tezel's character's interactions with the bad guys felt a bit forced as well. With that I am for example referring to the football scene or the scene when she tells one of the henchmen (the one with initial interest, who despises her quickly) a joke about Turkish people as a response to his joke about lawyers. Yep, the main protagonist is a lawyer, which makes it a bit difficult to believe honestly that she is really falling for this career criminal, who even murdered somebody, but I guess feelings cannot be explained. The ending there on the roof is also pretty cringeworthy with how the bad guy still is about to make a crucial call that could result in murder when the police are so close to him already. I am not sure if the jump into the water is any better. That he turned himself in eventually felt somewhat right nonetheless, but the explanation that he only does if Tezel's character is released is quite a bad joke. I mean how did they even get approval so quickly for such a strange deal. He clearly likes her and that is alright, but if he was so hopeless when it comes to falling for a woman, it is difficult for me to believe that he could have risen so successfully in the world of crime. So yeah, you see there is not too much I am happy about in terms of realism. The film is thrilling admittedly here and there, but it just does not feel authentic. This also applies to the story about Tezel's character's sister that felt really really rushed in here and barely added anything, certainly not as much as it could have with better writing and elaboration. The scene with the title character on the phone with her sister felt really wasted. In that scene (and on other occasions), you also see Kida Khodr Ramadan and he is an actor I like. Sadly he does not have the material to shine in this movie here. He is basically just a contract killer, but there is nothing to his role unfortunately. Even the henchman I mentioned earlier had better material and that is really disappointing because honestly by 2016 Kida Khodr Ramadan was already pretty famous here in Germany because of his performances in other movies, so he definitely should have gotten a better part. Another subplot that did not turn into something interesting ever was the one with the Kiefer Sutherland look-alike that they tried to turn into some kind of mysterious characer pulling the strings in the background. As for lead actress Tezel, I think she is not horribly bad, but also she is not a particularly gifted and if the script is as weak as it is here, then she certainly cannot elaborate the material. I think she will have a hard time to get good roles once her looks vanish. Then again, I remembered her more stunning somehow from other films that she was in. Oh well, maybe these films were simply older and she was younger. That could be the reason. For even the one scene when she attracts the bad guy's attention with her legal knowledge did not feel like a scene in which she really could have attracted most males' attention or only attention from the shallow ones. So how they depict her as a men magnet, also the early sex scene with Duken, is probably exaggerated a bit and also not too close to reality. Like I said early on, I do believe that this movie is better than the sequel, but taht is really only because the sequel is an insult to audiences in its entirety, while this one is only partially an abomination. But there is no hesitation for me in saying you should absolutely skip these 1.5 hours. Not recommended.
Tezel's character's interactions with the bad guys felt a bit forced as well. With that I am for example referring to the football scene or the scene when she tells one of the henchmen (the one with initial interest, who despises her quickly) a joke about Turkish people as a response to his joke about lawyers. Yep, the main protagonist is a lawyer, which makes it a bit difficult to believe honestly that she is really falling for this career criminal, who even murdered somebody, but I guess feelings cannot be explained. The ending there on the roof is also pretty cringeworthy with how the bad guy still is about to make a crucial call that could result in murder when the police are so close to him already. I am not sure if the jump into the water is any better. That he turned himself in eventually felt somewhat right nonetheless, but the explanation that he only does if Tezel's character is released is quite a bad joke. I mean how did they even get approval so quickly for such a strange deal. He clearly likes her and that is alright, but if he was so hopeless when it comes to falling for a woman, it is difficult for me to believe that he could have risen so successfully in the world of crime. So yeah, you see there is not too much I am happy about in terms of realism. The film is thrilling admittedly here and there, but it just does not feel authentic. This also applies to the story about Tezel's character's sister that felt really really rushed in here and barely added anything, certainly not as much as it could have with better writing and elaboration. The scene with the title character on the phone with her sister felt really wasted. In that scene (and on other occasions), you also see Kida Khodr Ramadan and he is an actor I like. Sadly he does not have the material to shine in this movie here. He is basically just a contract killer, but there is nothing to his role unfortunately. Even the henchman I mentioned earlier had better material and that is really disappointing because honestly by 2016 Kida Khodr Ramadan was already pretty famous here in Germany because of his performances in other movies, so he definitely should have gotten a better part. Another subplot that did not turn into something interesting ever was the one with the Kiefer Sutherland look-alike that they tried to turn into some kind of mysterious characer pulling the strings in the background. As for lead actress Tezel, I think she is not horribly bad, but also she is not a particularly gifted and if the script is as weak as it is here, then she certainly cannot elaborate the material. I think she will have a hard time to get good roles once her looks vanish. Then again, I remembered her more stunning somehow from other films that she was in. Oh well, maybe these films were simply older and she was younger. That could be the reason. For even the one scene when she attracts the bad guy's attention with her legal knowledge did not feel like a scene in which she really could have attracted most males' attention or only attention from the shallow ones. So how they depict her as a men magnet, also the early sex scene with Duken, is probably exaggerated a bit and also not too close to reality. Like I said early on, I do believe that this movie is better than the sequel, but taht is really only because the sequel is an insult to audiences in its entirety, while this one is only partially an abomination. But there is no hesitation for me in saying you should absolutely skip these 1.5 hours. Not recommended.
