February Movie #7: Snitch

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Susan Sarandon
Run Time: 1 hour 52 minutes
Directed By: Ric Roman Waugh

Snitch is based on a true life story where a father becomes a drug dealer in order to get his son out of jail. When the son stupidly accepts a package sent from a friend that he knows contains drugs, he walks into a trap. The Drug Enforcement crew arrest him and he's put in jail. Even for a first time offender, the minimum jail time is 10 years. He can reduce his sentence if he gives the names of other drug dealers. He doesn't know any. His father then decides to find a big drug dealer and in order to do that, he becomes a drug dealer himself.

Forget what you know of The Rock's movies. This ain't like nothing he's done before. There's acting involved here... And very little action.


Not sure I liked it. The movie was decent. It really was well done. Well acted. Decent amount of action. The Rock gave a fine performance, one that doesn't involve him blowing things up or punching people, despite what the previews show (queue the end "chase" scene with cars shooting at the rock in a truck and cars flipping over). I did think it interesting that Susan Sarandon was in this with The Rock. At the start of his acting career, I don't think anyone could have predicted this pairing. But I just don't know if the movie really sucked me in. I think it was missing a bit of magic, that "gotcha" moment. I walked out of the movie feeling "Eh."

Although I felt "eh" (or, if you prefer a different term - "blah" or blasé) after watching this movie, I did have a bunch of thoughts. When a film gives me too much time to let my mind wander to its own devices, it can't be a good movie. My thoughts:

Whenever I see guys standing next to The Rock and they're taller than he is, it pulls me out of the movie. He's 6'4. Are there really an abundance of people out there taller than 6'4? I assume they're trying to make him seem more like an "everyday" man to make him shorter than others but it has the opposite affect on me. I find it jarring and am very conscious that this is a movie, of the decision.

I did find the end text very telling. There was definitely opinion there. There's a note at the end stating that the minimum sentence for a first time drug dealer is higher than for rapists. While this movie focused on an innocent kid setup by his friend, that's probably the exception to the rule. There has to be evidence that drug dealing, even when starting off fresh, leads to other crimes. Their current crime may be just drug dealing, but if left to their own devices would that expand to robbery and murder? Drug dealing is bad. Rape is bad. They're all bad. There's no reason to highlight that one gets more jail time than the others. Should they all be minimum 10 years?

One thing that bothered me - The Rock's character kept mentioning that he was in construction. I didn't see thar. Seemed to me that he was in Transportation. Is that such a hard industry for people to understand ? Even if he moved construction materials, he was still in Transportation. His trucks were branded to him, which is not something a small construction operation would do (privatize their transportation). Of course, this is just a sensitive area for someone ib Transportation... :-)

So... It's a good movie, not great. It's just missing that little something extra. It's a little different from The Rock's normal movies (which is not what makes this an "eh" movie). He's always been a decent actor in his action movies. This one gives him a chance to shine. Maybe his next acting movie will encompass more.