Snitch

Typically Hollywood saves the movies that weren’t good enough for an Oscar push or big enough for a summer release for the weekend of the Oscars. So pretty much whatever money it makes that weekend is a bonus. Well this year that movie was Snitch starring The Rock. As you know, I see over 100 movies a year in the theater, so watching the industry’s biggest and most prestigious awards show is like watching a family reunion’s awards banquet for me. You get to root for the family members you like and have watched grow up over the years while booing and yelling at the scary drunken uncle who keeps showing up every holiday, see Russell Crowe.

There I was with my mini feast prepared and my Spanish wine all ready to go. Surely Seth Mcfarlane would insult everyone within the first 5 minutes and with people like Tarantino, Jennifer Lawrence, and Bobby Deniro nominated, you’d have to expect entertaining speeches. Negative, it took all I had not to fall asleep. What a complete waste of time, I shouldve traded in my fancy wine for a 40oz and 100 minutes with Dwayne Johnson!

The premise overall is pretty unbelievable but apparently it is based off of real events. So the Rock’s kid gets busted housing a package of ecstasy pills for his friend in a scenario that honestly quite a few kids would’ve found themselves caught in. Due to the new laws, being caught with narcotics with the intent to distribute comes with a minimum jail sentence of 10 years and seeing as how the Rock’s kid is only 18, his life would essentially be over. The only way to reduce his sentence is to set someone else up but since the kid only knows his friends and no one big time, he refuses to do so. So the Rock is left with no other choice but to force the District Attorney(Susan Sarandon) to allow him to find a big time player in the local drug ring himself in exchange for a reduced sentence for his son.

Through the help of one of his employees, you are taken through an intense meeting with a local dealer Malik played by Michael Kenneth Williams, in which The Rock convinces Malik to let him run his drugs for him via his trucking company. After which you get insight into how drugs and money are funneled into this country and the dangers that come with it. It’s hard to determine where the true events end and where the embellished events begin but if you follow the news at all, every part that shows just how ruthless the cartels can be is totally believable.

Early on the movie is pretty sappy and even though this movie is full of decent actors, the director does an awful job of getting the bets out of them. Susan Sarandon is clearly mailing it in for a check and yes the Rock can actually be good if pushed, see Southland Tales (actually don’t, as I’m the only person on this planet who likes that movie). But no one puts forth a great effort here; it’s like midway through filming someone told them that this movie wasn’t getting a summer release and that only half of it was being filmed in Austin, the rest was being shot in the butt hole of Louisiana. Barry Pepper is cool as the Rock’s mentor and MKW is awesome as Malik as you would expect and to his credit, the director does give you plenty of action towards the end. I just wish the marketing department had done a better job with the advertising so it didn’t feel like a CBS drama that follows 60 Minutes.

The story is interesting, there’s just enough violence in it to keep you interested, and Ruxin’s(The League) hot wife is in it. So based off of that I give this movie a rating of barely FRESH.