"Snitch" - directed by Ric Roman Waugh
It seems like sooner or later every major (or not so major) action star decides that they need to show some range.
They put down the Uzi's and make a beeline for one of two (and eventually it is usually both) genre's.
The dreaded family comedy and/or the 'serious' drama.
Schwarzenegger did it with the abysmal "Jingle All the Way", "Twins" and "Junior".
Stallone had only a slightly better run with "Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot", "the admittedly quite good "Oscar" and a decent serious turn in "Cop Land" opposite some serious talent (DeNiro, Keitel, Liotta).
After the light and fluffy "Tooth Fairy" and "The Game Plan" Dwayne Johnson is taking route two to Serious-Town with "Snitch".
I like Dwayne Johnson.
He has charisma and is pretty decent in both comedic and action roles.
His brief turn alongside Samuel L Jackson in the Will Ferrell comedy "The Other Guys" made me wish someone would make a movie about those two crazy characters.
So I am with him more than most action stars when they decide to try a serious dramatic role.
He's done it right too I think.
He is surrounded by some major talent (Sarandon, Pepper, Bernthal) and the story still allows for the sort of action that we know him best for.
It feels like he is easing into it.
Smart.
The opening credits tell us that the events portrayed are based on a true story which is a little misleading.
In truth the screenplay was based on a Frontline documentary about changes to drug laws that offer encouragement to incarcerated narcotics convicts to snitch on accomplices.
The story concerns one mans desperate attempt to free his son Jason from a grossly unfair narcotics conviction.
I don't know if this is at all feasible but in the case of "Snitch" all that the poor young man had to do to get a twenty year sentence was sign for a parcel containing thousands of illegal pills.
His best friend Craig Skype's him and pushes him into taking delivery of a box of pills.
He does this to reduce his own sentence. If this is in any way a true representation then it is a sad indictment on US law.
Jason doesn't actually agree to take the delivery but nonetheless the pills are delivered, he signs for them and opens the box revealing not only a bag of goofy sweets but a DEA sensor.
After a short chase he is arrested and so we begin.
Johnson plays John Matthews- Jason's Father - a successful construction business owner with a new wife and child.
His ex-wife phones him at a family barbecue to inform him of the arrest and off they go to to learn of the outrageous mandatory minimum drug sentences.
Even a first time offender with the most tenuous link to drug dealing can lose ten or twenty years of their life in prison.
Just this week a new trailer for a documentary called "How To Make Money Selling Drugs" arrived.
It appears to explore this issue as its main focus and features amongst others Susan Sarandon.
Check it out HERE
"Snitch" isn't quite so concerned with the bigger issue- it is a smaller story.
It has a much simpler tale to tell of a man forced to become an undercover operative for the DEA.
Senator Joanne Keeghan is the sort of tough as nails bitch that Susan Sarandon has made a career out of.
She had to play a nun to win an Oscar but otherwise her CV is filled with tough, no nonsense women.
As Joanne Keeghan It is she who relishes the chance to use John Matthews for her own political ends.
If you don't buy Dwayne Johnson as a happily married family man running a business and taking important calls during which he says things like 'Okay, let's move some equity around' then you are probably going to have an even harder time watching him get three colours of crap beaten out of him by street dealers about half his size.
His stature and his history work against him on both counts and for me he never quite managed to pull free of this image.
Regardless he gives it his all and his screen charisma carries him through.
I liked his performance better than one of his co-stars at least.
Susan Sarandon to me is one of the most overrated actresses of all time.
She lacks the ability to shrink into a role and create a character.
Always the same expressions, always the same voice.
On the other hand Jon Bernthal does stellar work as ex-con and current Matthews employee Daniel.
He has been great in a host of things from "The Walking Dead" to "World Trade Center" and even "Night At the Museum" Battle of the Smithsonian" as Al Capone.
Daniels past as a drug dealer enables him to introduce John into that world.
Using his trucks to ship drugs he is able to work his way through the lower ranks of the street trade all the way up to the cartels of Mexico.
It is pretty heavy stuff and deserves a longer more intense examination than this film allows but still- there is tension and all things considered the story is compelling enough and the characters worthy of our concern and investment.
It is a shame that three of the female stars get so little to do.
Nadine Velasquez ("My Name Is Earl" and "Flight") as Matthews' wife is required to do no more than look incredible, the fantastic Melina Kanakeredes ("Long Kiss Goodnight", "Providence", "CSI NY") is criminally underused and Lela Loren as Daniel's wife is allowed to give us the merest glimpse as to what a talent she is.
Personally I would have replaced Sarandon with Kanakeredes and beefed up Loren's role.
They bring so much to this movie with the little that they are given just a little more meat to the roles would have paid dramatic dividends.
We do get a slimy, sneering Benjamin Bratt as the head of the drug cartel.
Scenery chewing doesn't begin to describe his performance.
Love it.
Best of all is Barry Pepper as DEA agent Cooper.
Sporting not only an array of prison tats but the finest good ole boy beard ever committed to film Pepper owns every scene that he is in.
He wears a constant expression of concern that nonetheless doesn't diminish the impression that he is seconds away from doing something crazy.
His years on the job show on his face.
I remember the hype about Pepper when "Saving Private Ryan" came out.
He is a talent for sure.
Bear in mind that he was the only person in front of or behind the camera on the risible "Battlefield Earth" to come out critically unscathed.
In "Snitch" years of mingling with violent, scum of the earth drug cartels and low life street dealers has worn him down.
Agent Cooper is the cynically world weary heart of the film and it is all down to Pepper's great work.
Matthews has the odds stacked against him and the pressure it is not all on the wrong side of the law.
His desperation leads him to put a lot of people in danger- not just himself.
It's all pretty heavy stuff but as the poster would indicate there is a bit fire to "Snitch" in the action stakes.
Mostly this concerns Johnson driving a large truck avoiding machine gun fire from various drug types.
There is the expected big finale action set piece and it is pretty exciting stuff.
And that is probably as good an overall statement on "Snitch" as a movie - pretty exciting.
It isn't as effective as Soderbergh's "Traffic" but to be fair its brief is narrower but the films downfall is that it falls short of being both a serious look at the drug trade at the same time as failing as an action movie.
Maybe a push one way or the other might have helpes.
As it stands I liked "Snitch" and it is probably an important step in Johson's career but it never rises above being an 'almost' movie.
They put down the Uzi's and make a beeline for one of two (and eventually it is usually both) genre's.
The dreaded family comedy and/or the 'serious' drama.
Schwarzenegger did it with the abysmal "Jingle All the Way", "Twins" and "Junior".
Stallone had only a slightly better run with "Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot", "the admittedly quite good "Oscar" and a decent serious turn in "Cop Land" opposite some serious talent (DeNiro, Keitel, Liotta).
After the light and fluffy "Tooth Fairy" and "The Game Plan" Dwayne Johnson is taking route two to Serious-Town with "Snitch".
I like Dwayne Johnson.
He has charisma and is pretty decent in both comedic and action roles.
His brief turn alongside Samuel L Jackson in the Will Ferrell comedy "The Other Guys" made me wish someone would make a movie about those two crazy characters.
So I am with him more than most action stars when they decide to try a serious dramatic role.
He's done it right too I think.
He is surrounded by some major talent (Sarandon, Pepper, Bernthal) and the story still allows for the sort of action that we know him best for.
It feels like he is easing into it.
Smart.
In truth the screenplay was based on a Frontline documentary about changes to drug laws that offer encouragement to incarcerated narcotics convicts to snitch on accomplices.
The story concerns one mans desperate attempt to free his son Jason from a grossly unfair narcotics conviction.
I don't know if this is at all feasible but in the case of "Snitch" all that the poor young man had to do to get a twenty year sentence was sign for a parcel containing thousands of illegal pills.
His best friend Craig Skype's him and pushes him into taking delivery of a box of pills.
He does this to reduce his own sentence. If this is in any way a true representation then it is a sad indictment on US law.
Jason doesn't actually agree to take the delivery but nonetheless the pills are delivered, he signs for them and opens the box revealing not only a bag of goofy sweets but a DEA sensor.
After a short chase he is arrested and so we begin.
Johnson plays John Matthews- Jason's Father - a successful construction business owner with a new wife and child.
His ex-wife phones him at a family barbecue to inform him of the arrest and off they go to to learn of the outrageous mandatory minimum drug sentences.
Even a first time offender with the most tenuous link to drug dealing can lose ten or twenty years of their life in prison.
Just this week a new trailer for a documentary called "How To Make Money Selling Drugs" arrived.
It appears to explore this issue as its main focus and features amongst others Susan Sarandon.
Check it out HERE
"Snitch" isn't quite so concerned with the bigger issue- it is a smaller story.
 |
| Jon Bernthal |
Senator Joanne Keeghan is the sort of tough as nails bitch that Susan Sarandon has made a career out of.
She had to play a nun to win an Oscar but otherwise her CV is filled with tough, no nonsense women.
As Joanne Keeghan It is she who relishes the chance to use John Matthews for her own political ends.
If you don't buy Dwayne Johnson as a happily married family man running a business and taking important calls during which he says things like 'Okay, let's move some equity around' then you are probably going to have an even harder time watching him get three colours of crap beaten out of him by street dealers about half his size.
His stature and his history work against him on both counts and for me he never quite managed to pull free of this image.
Regardless he gives it his all and his screen charisma carries him through.
I liked his performance better than one of his co-stars at least.
Susan Sarandon to me is one of the most overrated actresses of all time.
She lacks the ability to shrink into a role and create a character.
Always the same expressions, always the same voice.
On the other hand Jon Bernthal does stellar work as ex-con and current Matthews employee Daniel.
He has been great in a host of things from "The Walking Dead" to "World Trade Center" and even "Night At the Museum" Battle of the Smithsonian" as Al Capone.
Daniels past as a drug dealer enables him to introduce John into that world.
Using his trucks to ship drugs he is able to work his way through the lower ranks of the street trade all the way up to the cartels of Mexico.
It is pretty heavy stuff and deserves a longer more intense examination than this film allows but still- there is tension and all things considered the story is compelling enough and the characters worthy of our concern and investment.
 |
| Lena Loren (shot not from "Snitch"), Nadine Velasquez and Melina Kanakaredes |
Nadine Velasquez ("My Name Is Earl" and "Flight") as Matthews' wife is required to do no more than look incredible, the fantastic Melina Kanakeredes ("Long Kiss Goodnight", "Providence", "CSI NY") is criminally underused and Lela Loren as Daniel's wife is allowed to give us the merest glimpse as to what a talent she is.
Personally I would have replaced Sarandon with Kanakeredes and beefed up Loren's role.
They bring so much to this movie with the little that they are given just a little more meat to the roles would have paid dramatic dividends.
We do get a slimy, sneering Benjamin Bratt as the head of the drug cartel.
Scenery chewing doesn't begin to describe his performance.
Love it.
Best of all is Barry Pepper as DEA agent Cooper.
Sporting not only an array of prison tats but the finest good ole boy beard ever committed to film Pepper owns every scene that he is in.
He wears a constant expression of concern that nonetheless doesn't diminish the impression that he is seconds away from doing something crazy.
His years on the job show on his face.
I remember the hype about Pepper when "Saving Private Ryan" came out.
He is a talent for sure.
Bear in mind that he was the only person in front of or behind the camera on the risible "Battlefield Earth" to come out critically unscathed.
In "Snitch" years of mingling with violent, scum of the earth drug cartels and low life street dealers has worn him down.
Agent Cooper is the cynically world weary heart of the film and it is all down to Pepper's great work.
 |
| Benjamin Bratt as 'El Topo" and Barry Pepper as DEA Agent Cooper |
His desperation leads him to put a lot of people in danger- not just himself.
It's all pretty heavy stuff but as the poster would indicate there is a bit fire to "Snitch" in the action stakes.
Mostly this concerns Johnson driving a large truck avoiding machine gun fire from various drug types.
There is the expected big finale action set piece and it is pretty exciting stuff.
And that is probably as good an overall statement on "Snitch" as a movie - pretty exciting.
It isn't as effective as Soderbergh's "Traffic" but to be fair its brief is narrower but the films downfall is that it falls short of being both a serious look at the drug trade at the same time as failing as an action movie.
Maybe a push one way or the other might have helpes.
As it stands I liked "Snitch" and it is probably an important step in Johson's career but it never rises above being an 'almost' movie.
| Rated | M for drug use and violence |
| Running Time: | 112 minutes (1hr 46mins without end credits) |
| Starring: |
| Dwayne Johnson | --- John Matthews |
| Barry Pepper | --- Agent Cooper |
| Jon Bernthal | --- Daniel James |
| Susan Sarandon | --- Joanne Keeghan |
| Michael Kenneth Williams | --- Malik |
| Rafi Gavron | --- Jason Collins |
| Melina Kanakeredes | --- Sylvie Collins |
| Nadine Velasquez | --- Analisa |
| Benjamin Bratt | --- Juan Carlos 'El Topo' Pintera |
| Harold Perrineau | --- Jeffrey Steele |
| Lela Loren | --- Vanessa |
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