Drug dealing thriller is more Wire than Tooth Fairy
From once living in Calgary (holy crap that’s where we live you guys!) to doling out the People’s Elbow in the ring and starring in brainless family comedies like The Game Plan and Tooth Fairy Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has done it all. Add in turns in the Fast & Furious and Journey to the Center of the Earth franchises and dude has a hilariously scatterbrained resumé. On a side note he looks exactly like Mr. Horse from The Ren & Stimpy Show . In other words the name Dwayne Johnson is not exactly synonymous with grit. That’s why despite a starring role in Snitch he’s relegated to business-savvy family man who’s pushed to the edge.
The movie falls somewhere between a low-rent version of The Wire and the best Mark Wahlberg movie not starring Mark Wahlberg (think Contraband or Shooter ) one of those forgettable action flicks that offers some brief thrills and mindless chase scenes.
Johnson stars as John Matthews the owner of a construction company who’s been divorced and remarried to Analisa (Nadine Velazquez better known as Nick Kroll’s high-maintenance wife on The League ). Rafi Gavron who appears to be in most movies lately plays Jason Collins John’s son from a previous marriage. Jason’s friend asks him via Skype if he’ll let him ship some MDMA to his house to which Jason says no. The package arrives anyway and comes complete with a tracking device from the DEA.
Turns out Jason’s friend was arrested when he tried to ship the drugs and had his sentence reduced drastically by ratting out his bud. Now the mostly innocent youngster is looking at a 10-year prison sentence if he doesn’t snitch on some other drug dealers. Trouble is since he wasn’t really involved in any actual trafficking he doesn’t have anyone to point the finger at.
Because of that it’s up to his estranged dad to save the day. Teaming up with his ex-con employee Daniel James ( The Walking Dead ’s Jon Bernthal) he starts moving illicit product for Malik (Michael K. Williams essentially reprising his Wire role as Omar Little albeit with much worse dialogue).
John and Daniel keep moving up the cartel chain of command while caught between the threat of gang violence and the unforgiving policy of a steely district attorney (Susan Sarandon doing her best on autopilot). As could be expected things turn to shit in myriad ways and even though it’s clear that the protagonist will win out in the end it’s hard to know how he’ll pull it off.
Snitch is about as mediocre as you’d expect from a late-February action time-waste. There’s the prerequisite ambient guitar score a modern-day take on the squealing guitar solos that attempted to add emotional depth to the ’80s versions of this movie. There’s also a limp critique of the American judicial system which is awkwardly crammed into the film’s second half.
Then there are scenes that straight up make no sense. When he first finds out that his son is going to prison John’s talking with his wife in the kitchen of his mansion. Soon he notices that the automatic sprinklers have come on despite the fact that it’s raining outside. “Did I seriously just hear the sprinklers turn on?” he pleads. “Does everything have to go to shit?” Then it shows him go outside and turn them off. For some reason the filmmakers wanted you to witness that lawn lamentation.
Even though it’s not all that good Snitch is damn enjoyable. The film’s gritty look and stabs at political commentary fall flat but there are still enough car chases and surprises to keep you entertained for two hours. Considering he’s posing as a drug dealer instead of a tooth fairy this is one of The Rock’s best roles yet.
