Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has always had big muscles and a huge smile. Those are fine qualities in an actor who stars in the kinds of movies he’s made. But with “Snitch,” he brings something else to the table: acting chops.
I knew the guy could deliver a convincing grimace, but he’s never needed to sustain it for more than a few seconds. And he’s always been able to handle dialogue more complex than fellow action star Arnold Schwarzenegger seems capable of handling. But in “Snitch,” he’s called upon to also emote in dramatically intense scenes, and he delivers.
In “Snitch,” Johnson plays John Matthews, the kind of man a lot of men would like to be: He owns a business, he’s a fair employer, and he has a big house and a beautiful wife. He’s a good man, but also imperfect. He has a bitter ex, a teenage son to whom he’s not close, and his business is struggling.
In other words, Matthews is more grounded in reality than any other character Johnson has played. Matthews still has some of their idealized qualities, but also vulnerabilities. This had the welcome effect of making me wonder if he could pull off what he sets out to do.
“Snitch” opens with a scene that stretches the boundaries of reality. His son receives a package via courier, takes it to his bedroom, opens it, and sees a bag of drugs a friend sent to him to resell. When he picks up the bag, an alarm in the package goes off, and suddenly, law enforcement is pouring into the house. I even heard a window break.
The son has never committed a crime, and was reluctant to take delivery of the drugs, but when he opens the box, he breaks a federal law that will earn him ten years in prison. Matthews arranges to meet with local U.S. Attorney Joanne Keeghan, who’s running an anti-drug campaign to bolster her chances for election to Congress, to appeal for mercy.
Keeghan is open to striking a deal that will reduce the sentence to two years, but only if Matthews’ son agrees to give up the source of the drugs he received. The boy refuses to rat on his friend. Then, in another move that stretches the script’s credibility, Matthews says, “What if I do it? What if I get you someone?” And Keeghan agrees.
Thus begins Matthews’ descent into the terrifying world of the drug trade, where the mere whiff of the law on your skin earns you a quick bullet in your head. He works his way up through the local ranks, and then strikes pay dirt when he comes into contact with Juan Carlos Pintera, a kingpin of considerable power and cruelty.
I’ll leave you to discover what happens next.
“Snitch” does a few things right. The stakes for Matthews and his son feel high. Once Matthews digs into the trenches, he always seems a heartbeat away from dead. And the prison scenes between Matthews and his son have an authenticity that gives the movie emotional depth. Father and son begin to communicate, come to understand each other, and then express their love for one another. Johnson goes for broke in those scenes, which work really well.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of Ric Roman Waugh’s direction. The camera hovers too closely to the actor’s faces, and Waugh uses a handheld approach that frequently borders on nauseating. Worse, a car chase at the end is nearly incomprehensible – I could barely tell who was where and in relation to whom. Also, by that point, the story had grown convoluted and hard to follow.
These things said, Johnson, and Matthews’ predicament, carried me through to the very satisfying conclusion. Although I don’t feel compelled to recommend you see “Snitch” in a theater, it’ll be well worth renting when that time comes.
Rated PG-13 for drug content and sequences of violence. Three stars out of four.