I don’t know wrestling from NASCAR, so Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was an unknown to me before he started acting in movies. You may hear that in Snitch, his acting takes a newfangled turn for subtlety. Let’s not get carried away. While Snitch is far more enjoyable than it has a right to be, Johnson is only part of it. Vivid performaces by Barry Pepper, Michael Kenneth Williams and Susan Sarandon offset a creaky plot and a preachy theme. And, the film’s farfetched tomfoolery aside, a potentially star-making turn by Jon Bernthal seals it in the winner’s column.
The proverbially “based on true events” Snitch has itself in a huff about mandatory drug sentences for first-time offenders. Johnson’s estranged son receives a UPS package with enough Ecstasy in it to fuel a stadium-sized Rave, and Federal drug agents knock at his door almost instantly. Led by Pepper, who’s wearing comical facial hair reminiscent of Frank Zappa in his heyday, they arrest the frightened kid at gunpoint. A PBS Frontline episode told the original story of a man named James Settembrino agreeing to infiltrate drug dealers and turn in some suspects to save his son from serving a full 10 year sentence for possession of LSD. It’s no sin in itself that director Rick Roman Waugh blows up the real story into a yarn that has The Rock going after no less than a Mexican drug cartel led by Benjamin Bratt. While the climax of the film forays into weariness, getting there proves to be fun. Credit Wright for almost hiding more than a couple of plot holes while his actors do the rest.
On the way to paydirt, The Rock encounters a no-nonsense district attorney who’s running for Congress (Sarandon) and her savvy lead investigator (Pepper). His first foray into undercover drug-and-hood politics brings him to a steely, wackadoodle drug player, Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar from The Wire), who commands a heaping load of respect. Tension nicely substitutes for action and Bernthal’s vibrant presence as Johnson’s employee–an ex-con who wants to stay straight–provides the film a welcomed noir-ish tone. Bernthal gives in to Johnson’s demand to provide “an introduction” to the underworld and the two become partners, tiptoeing around Williams. Once we get into drug cartel territory, the tension simmers down some and the sluggish cliches become more frequent. Still, as a well acted tale of a desperate father looking to right a wrong, Snitch is an improvement on the largely deployable batch of January/February overwrought action flicks. It may be bumbling at times and former stuntman Waugh is often clueless in his framing of his shots, but Snitch manages to burnish a strange panache of sorts. Bernthal’s performance cranks things up enough to give you enough time to actually enjoy the film before you eventually scratch your head over the film’s culpable plot contrivances.
3 The Rock Steps Into An Acting Clinic Chokehold (out of 5)