Advertisement

Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

Snitch

SNITCH (Ric Roman Waugh). 95 minutes. Some subtitles. Opens Friday (February 22). For venues and times, see listings. Rating: NNN


Snitch is an issue picture in thriller drag, designed to educate Americans about the awful effects of mandatory minimum sentences. Laws intended to induce small-time drug dealers to give up their suppliers for reduced jail time have left thousands of first-time offenders facing a decade in prison for minor violations – an obscene miscarriage of justice recently addressed in Eugene Jarecki’s documentary The House I Live In.

Snitch isn’t a documentary, though. “Inspired by true events,” it’s a tense, reasonably efficient thriller about construction-supply magnate John Matthews (Dwayne Johnson), who decides to infiltrate his city’s drug organization to get his son out from under a DEA set-up.

Enlisting an ex-con employee (Jon Bernthal), John gets an introduction to local kingpin Malik (Michael Kenneth Williams, The Wire’s Omar) and starts working his way up the line, consulting with a manipulative U.S. attorney (Susan Sarandon) and a grizzled but ultimately sensible cop (Barry Pepper).

Director and co-writer Ric Roman Waugh doesn’t let the action beats overwhelm the character stuff, giving Snitch a grimy 70s vibe that carries through to its cynical portrayal of authority figures and its modest dramatic ambitions.

The problem is that Johnson’s such an outsized leading man – both literally and in terms of his strengths as a performer – that he’s not really convincing as a Gene Hackman Everydad. He’s perfectly convincing firing a shotgun through the window of a semi. He just can’t pass for ordinary.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted