The Informant! 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The Informant! 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Twice as smart as 007.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 29, 2025

A handful of noted American directors have been getting lots of love on UHD as of late, with recent waves of domestic and import releases celebrating the diverse back catalogs of David Cronenberg, Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher, and more. You can certainly add Steven Soderbergh's name to that list -- he's not only perhaps the biggest outsider of the bunch, but his body of work has jumped between almost every genre imaginable. In fact, all of Soderbergh's pre-2020 output for WB has been issued to 4K during the past year, with the likes of Magic Mike, the Ocean's Trilogy, Contagion and, as of this week, The Good German (review forthcoming), and The Informant! -- it's not exactly a chronological list, but nonetheless a complete one. A socially conscious endeavor that certainly isn't as serious as Contagion or even Erin Brockovich, The Informant! still packs a punch and fits in snugly with Soderbergh's singular résumé.

For an earlier synopsis and appreciation of The Informant! (which I fully agree with, hence our identical ratings), please see Kenneth Brown's review of Warner Bros.' 2009 Blu-ray. This new UHD edition -- which was presumably supervised by the director, as all of those other linked 4K releases were -- shares a lot of similarities in its audio and extras, but is led by a brand-new master that easily exceeds that of the VC-1 encoded (and bit-starved) earlier edition.

The Informant! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced directly from the 4K disc but have been downsampled to 1080p/SDR and thus should not be considered an accurate representation of quality in terms of brightness level, color, and detail.

All of the reliable (and even a few not-so-reliable) sources I checked indicated that The Informant! was indeed finished at a 2K digital intermediate despite being shot at 4.5K resolution... so while that implies this new 2160p/HDR10/Dolby Vision transfer is "just an upscale", it's a damn good one and obviously outperforms the dated VC-1 Blu-ray by a fairly with margin. A substantially higher bit rate and more efficient encoding are obviously the two biggest differences here, resulting in a much smoother and more precise visual presentation that feels quite a bit more stable and well-suited for larger screens. Even so, they share a number of general similarities including color temperature, the perceived level of fine detail, and of course how the hazy and diffused digital cinematography by "Peter Andrews" doesn't shy away from blown-out highlights and deep shadows at both ends of the visual spectrum. Both of the latter are now better controlled thanks to the benefits of HDR which, whether or not you're able to make use of Dolby Vision, should provide a similarly superior experience that showcases more dialed-in depth even in dark and underlit environments.

Much like Contagion, both this 4K and the older Blu-ray make use of a full 1.78:1 aspect ratio which obviously seems to be the director's intent and it isn't far away from its 1.85:1 matted theatrical roots. Any way you slice it, though, we're inarguably getting a high-quality presentation here and it's the primary draw of this new 4K edition, so I can't imagine any die-hard fans of The Informant! being anything but enormously pleased with how it turned out.

The Informant! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

From what I can tell, this DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track sounds like a similar port of the similarly lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix heard on WB's 2009 Blu-ray, so please see the linked review for more information. For all intents and purposes, it's the same mix but I've scored it slightly higher because, well, I liked it more than Ken.

Please note that while English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature, all the recycled extras listed below are no longer subtitled. Additionally, the French, Portuguese, and Spanish dubs and subtitles from the Blu-ray's film presentation have not been carried over, which seems like a dumb decision for any region-free release.

The Informant! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with recycled cover artwork; no slipcover or inserts are included. Bonus features include both items featured on the 2009 Blu-ray as well as the trailer.

• Audio Commentary - This enjoyable legacy track features director Steven Soderbergh and writer Scott Burns, who oddly enough isn't credited on the menu but is indeed a valued participant. Sorry, Scott!

• Deleted Scenes (4 clips, 6:26 total)

• NEW! Theatrical Trailer (2:27) - This lively promotional piece can also be seen here.

The Informant! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Director Steven Soderbergh has amassed one of the most diverse résumés around during the last 35+ years, running the gamut from black comedies to blacker comedies, dramas, thrillers... and recently, even supernatural quasi-horror. As implied by goofy cover art that's about a half-step away from The 40 Year-Old Virgin and the exclamation point in its title, The Informant! doesn't take itself all that seriously but does indeed pack quite a dramatic punch at times, falling squarely into deep black comic territory while also feeling like something of a biographical farce.

It's quite an unusual mixture but I've always enjoyed this film, first on DVD and Blu-ray and now in 4K as, alongside the simultaneous release of The Good German, Warner Bros.' welcome new UHD release from closes the home video cycle on Soderbergh's work with the studio from 2001-2012. It's another solid effort that pushes the film's visual boundaries and carries over a few solid legacy extras to create a well-rounded and Recommended disc.