Purely Joyful Movie!

A Disappointing Continuation

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Amazing what a good script, on the spot direction and solid supporting actors can do for a movie. Dwayne Johnson, always touted as a wooden action hero delivers a fairly credible performance and so do the rest of the crowd, specially Jon Bernthal, Barry Pepper and Susan Sarandon in a remake of some of her past roles. Not much depth but remember this is supposed to be an action movie; thus, you're in for a pleasant surprise: the action is measured -even subdued- spot-on and very credible. It doesn't require the viewer to switch off the brain.Good guys stay good, bad guys make you fear and hate them, and then they get what should be coming to them. There's well played drama sprinkled in and the movie is tense and gripping throughout. A solid 8/10!

Snitch is set in a post-divorce era. A son (Jason), somewhat rebellious, is suckered by a mate who, gaining brownie points for the DEA, tricks him into receiving illegal drugs. Jason in turn is offered a deal: sucker others in the drug's network and you'll get time off jail. He is basically an innocent, doesn't know anyone to be in the network, and won't sucker in the innocent as he was. His father (John), a successful businessman, offers to help the DEA for his son's early release. This requires contacting the local drug's network, and this (in eventum) requires bribing an employee and reformed criminal (Daniel). Daniel likes his boss and advises him to stay away from drugs, but Daniel finally yields to the temptation of serious money if he helps John make a contact: Daniel's family is very hard up and John seems serious.Daniel knows a nasty (Malik), who gives John a drug's job. The DEA could have gotten a good arrest out of that, and honoured their deal to release Jason early, but decide that John's success as a courier can help them nail a bigger fish in a strong drug's cartel (El Topo). It soon turns out that John's second trip will be a one-way trip, leading to his murder in Mexico: the DEA is morally divided. John, put in the picture, redraws the plan to give himself a fighting chance of survival. At this stage Daniel understands John's family motivations, and himself a family man, helps John's plans. Without going further, suffice to say it's a nail biter, and (to my ears) F-word free. A gritty film, showing real courage and concern for others, as well as dirty tricks within the DEA, where motivations are mixed. Was left hoping the cartel's snitch would get her comeuppance. Would have loved Cordell Walker to have shown up and spared me my fingernails, too.

SNITCH has a decent story at heart but in the end it turns out to be just another star vehicle, this time for actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. I appreciate that this is a thriller that eschews tired action sequences to concentrate on suspenseful storytelling, but for the most part the film-making on display here is distinctly average. Two previously watered-down thrillers I watched with Mark Wahlberg, CONTRABAND and BROKEN CITY, were much, much, better.Still, there's much worse than SNITCH out there, and if you're a fan of any of the main actors here then you'll probably enjoy it, because this is an actor's film at heart. Johnson is tough and stoic as the lead, but the supporting cast really shines: Susan Sarandon brings energy and vitality to only a few minutes of screen time, while Barry Pepper is an ever-kooky presence. Better still is Jon Bernthal, of THE WALKING DEAD, who brings much of the same brooding intensity to the role as he did as Shane in that TV series. TV fans will be in their element with the additional casting of Michael Kenneth Williams, aka Chalky from BOARDWALK EMPIRE, as a drug dealer. The film itself and the story might be distinctly forgettable, but it's the cast that makes this worthwhile.

To be honest I thought this film would be a "should've-been-straight-to-video" type of movie, but I decided to take a chance with it and, damn, was I shocked it kept me interested until the credits started rolling. I haven't been a big fan of Dwayne Johnson as a film star, but he's surely trying his hardest to prove people like me otherwise. The story immediately pulled me in and at some points I wanted more to happen in it, for it to make a sort of political statement on the frailties of the drug war, but all that kind of stuff considered, the filmmakers didn't bother with it, being that it more focused on the father-son relationship. Themes like that in films keep me intrigued and interested no matter how criticized the films are. The screenplay could have been better, and the film as a whole could have been more in depth, but that wasn't the point.