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Snitch Review

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Despite some success and acclaim for roles in the Fast and Furious franchise and above par kiddie fare, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has never really been given a role with enough meat to make people forget he was once (and still is really, if only part time) a wrestler. Not that this is a bad thing, look back on his career and you can see through his mike work that he was busy honing his skills for his future career, but people are still going to judge. So along comes Snitch, a crime drama, inspired by true events, that see's Johnson as John Matthews, a father who agrees to go undercover to snag a high level drug supplier in an effort to reduce his son's prison sentence, after he was set up as part of the U.S. Government's madatory minimum sentencing laws. Admittedly, it does give Johnson a chance to flex his acting muslces as opposed to his considerable biceps, and while he gives it his all, the movie built around him doesn't.


Proceedings get off to a rousing start, barrelling through the set up, and landing Jason (Rafi Gavron) in jail ten minutes in. It's after this that the films pace slows down, spending thirty minutes to tell us something that could have been told in five. The pacing is the real let down here, stopping and starting on numerous occassions, which severely hurts the emotional investment we are expected to build for the characters. Many scenes seem incindental, a shoot out at a drug deal has no other reason for being there than to pepper the movie with some action (same goes for a truck chase during the finale, which is shot extremely well. Unsurprising since director Ric Roman Waugh got his break as a stuntman), and Benjamin Bratt is wasted as a drug boss, his story wrapped way too quickly and never really fleshed out beyond 'he's the bad guy'. The story is another area where the movie is let down. There isn't enough of it. Matthew's plight isn't really enough to sustain 112 minutes, and while their are the promise of meaty subpolts involving his home life, the damge his action do to an ex-con's (Jon Bernthal) efforts to go straight, and Susan Sarandon's U.S Attorney and her election to Congress, they fall by the wayside very quickly. Also, the films message of the harsh realities of the U.S's war on drugs is a tad heavy handed, even ending the movie with a frightenly true statistic.

Despite not being given enough to do, the cast do put their all into their roles. Johnson really shows he can handle the dramatic lead, imbuing his character with a sublty we haven't really seen from him before. His scenes with Gavron are heartbreaking, especially a heart to heart near the films end. Bernthal, making the jump to features after playing king bastard Shane in The Walking Dead, offers able support as the ex-con trying to care for his family. It may be a fairly generic role, but he makes it work, even though he is dropped completely from the second act, and brought in as an after though during the finale.  Sarandon's role, I feel, is a missed opptunity. She is not a likable charcter, you know straight away she is only helping out to gaurentee her seat in Congress, and more could have been made of that, adding a bit more dramatic meat. As it is, it's only a footnote. Also special mention has to go to Barry Pepper, not for his acting, which is the usual tough guy cop in the vain of 'you don't have my friendship, but you have my respect' (which admittedly, he plays very well), but his beard, which reaches down passed his shoulders. As an admirer and cultivater of fine facial hair myself, I respect his commitment.

While not the career defining role Johnson was hoping for, Snitch is a step in the right direction. It has a few problems, but still a servicable crime thriller.





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The Movie Bit: Snitch Review
Snitch Review
Read our take on Snitch, starring Dwayne Johnson, here.
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The Movie Bit
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