SNITCH (2013)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Cast: The Rock, Barry Pepper, Jon Bernthal, Michael Kenneth Williams, Susan Sarandon, Harold Perrineau, Melina Kanakaredes, Rafi Gavron, Nadine Velazquez, Benjamin Bratt, Kym Jackson
RunTime: 1 hr 52 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Drug Use)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://www.snitch-movie.com/
 
Opening Day: 14 March 2013

Synopsis: In the fast-paced action thriller "Snitch", Dwayne Johnson stars as a father whose teenage son is wrongly accused of a drug distribution crime and is looking at a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years. Desperate and determined to rescue his son at all costs, he makes a deal with the U.S. attorney to work as an undercover informant and infiltrate a drug cartel on a dangerous mission - risking everything, including his family and his own life.

Movie Review:

If you want to see Dwayne Johnson kick ass, you’ll have to wait a few more weeks for ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ or slightly longer for ‘Fast and Furious 6’. Contrary to what Johnson’s seething look on the poster might suggest, this isn’t an action movie; in fact, aside from wielding a shotgun in the finale, Johnson doesn’t even pull a single punch. Instead, ‘Snitch’ showcases what we don’t quite see as much from the charismatic action star – and that is, his ability to pull off a nuanced and thoughtful performance.

Certainly one of his most dramatically challenging parts, Johnson plays essentially a desperate father who will do whatever it takes to get his son out of prison. Inspired by a Frontline news report about the legal injustice of mandatory minimum sentencing laws for first-time nonviolent offenders, co-writer and director Ric Roman Waugh eschews the natural ‘action movie’ inclinations of the premise to spin a quasi-fictional story both terrifying and yet entirely realistic.

The trigger that will set the entire chain of events in motion kicks off the movie in high gear. Framed on a drug-dealing charge by his best friend, 18-year-old teenager Jason (Rafi Gavron) faces the mandatory minimum sentence of ten years. Jason is the estranged son of John Matthews (Johnson), who aside from the pleas of his ex-wife Sylvie (Melina Kanakaredes), takes it upon himself to get Jason freed because he feels he owes it to him for being an absentee parent following the divorce.

With some connections, John gets in touch with slimy district attorney Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon), who tells him that the only way in which his son’s sentence could be reduced is for Jason to rat out some bigger fish in the drug-dealing business. Unfortunately, Jason knows no other dealer than his friend who ratted him out in the first place, so John makes the tough choice of going undercover himself for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to nab some larger fry in one of the drug cartels.

To do that, he enlists one of his employees in his construction business – Daniel (The Walking Dead’s Jon Bernthal) – with a former drug felon charge to hook him up with one of his past contacts, Malik (Michael K. Williams). One thing of course leads to another, and John quickly finds himself in over his head when he is recruited by the powerful Mexican drug cartel boss himself (Benjamin Bratt) to transport money across the border – the prospect of arresting ultimately proving too enticing for both Joanne and his DEA handler Agent Cooper (Barry Pepper) to give up on account of John’s own safety.

Waugh and his co-writer Justin Haythe flesh out a couple of interesting ethical issues centred around the extent that the law and its enforcement agencies will go just to fight the war on drugs. So the minimum sentencing laws are meant for deterrence and to persuade those arrested to cooperate with the authorities, they ask, but what about leniency for those inadvertently framed? Just how far should the law go in its crackdown – how about to the extent of putting an innocent civilian’s life at risk, using him practically as a big piece of meat baiting a hook? There is both timeliness and relevance in the issues it raises, the tough questions it dares to ask about the legal system and its means thoroughly riveting to watch.

Yet at no point do these concepts get highfalutin; instead, Johnson keeps the film grounded with a heartfelt performance, portraying keenly the anxiety of a father willing to sacrifice his own life in order to ensure the safety of his child. Toning down both his impressive physique and imposing demeanour, Johnson makes you believe in the despair, trepidation and distress of his character clearly in far beyond his capability. Johnson is supported by a terrific cast, in particular Bernthal as a family man dragged back to the life he has so conscientiously tried to put behind him and Pepper as a scruffy DEA agent whose convictions and motivations are questionable.

Thanks to an excellent cast, tight scripting and solid direction, ‘Snitch’ rises above the trappings of its potential B-movie premise to become something much more. Both as a critique of some questionable drug laws in the United States and as a family drama of the extent to which a parent is willing to go for his child, it is a compelling watch that trades easy Hollywood thrills for real-life relevance. It might not be the Dwayne Johnson movie you are expecting it to be, but we believe it is all the better for confounding and ultimately surpassing such expectations. 

Movie Rating:

(Built on compelling subject matter, this surprisingly realistic thriller that boasts one of Dwayne Johnson’s most dramatically challenging roles is a riveting watch from start to finish)

Review by Gabriel Chong