Snitch Review

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is arguably the most successful pro wrestler turned actor. He is a great action star, and he is not afraid to go out of his comfort zone. This is ranging from family comedies to artsy films. Now he is trying for a more dramatic role.

Snitch stars Johnson as John Matthews, the owner of a small, but successful construction company. His college bound son Jason agrees to let his friend ship some ecstasy to his house, but Jason is immediately arrested by the DEA for distribution of illegal drugs. Despite not being a dealer and being set up by his friend, he is facing a minimum 10-year prison term. In order to lessen his son’s prison time, Matthews agrees to go undercover for the DEA to catch the most dangerous drug kingpins.

Even though the trailer portrays the film as action packed, it is actually quite dramatic. The movie spends time developing its characters like Susan Sarandon as an ambitious prosecuting attorney or Jon Bernthal playing an ex-con who is trying to leave his old life behind, but is dragged into Matthew’s plans.

Nevertheless, Johnson’s performance is just average. In fact, that goes for everyone else in the movie. I appreciate this film for trying to be something more than a straightforward action film, but Johnson’s performance just isn’t convincing enough for me. Plus, there is so much exposition for the first hour and too much preaching about drug laws. To be honest, the best part of the movie doesn’t even come until about the last 15 minutes of the film.

Snitch would have been better as an action film as this is what Johnson does best. This is just another forgettable drama, but even if it were an action movie, it would still be forgettable. At least Johnson is trying to expand his acting range, and hopefully he will find better material next time he decides to do a drama film.

Snitch - 3/5