Snitch (2013) - Film Review

Director: Ric Roman Waugh

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jon Berthal, Barry Pepper, Susan Sarandon, Michael Kenneth Williams

Rating: Rated PG13 for drug content and sequences of violence

A father goes undercover for the DEA in order to free his son who was imprisoned after being set up in drug deal.

                             How far would you go to save your son? That is the question raised in the new Dwayne Johnson (Fast Five) vehicle "Snitch." The film follows Dwayne Johnson as a father who has to go undercover and help the DEA bring down a drug cartel in order to help his son get released from prison. Going into this film I had a lot of expectations as the film looked to be different from most action films, it seemed to have more depth, and it featured Jon Berthal who most of you all know as Shane from the Walking Dead who was my favorite character so I had some expectations going into this film. Now I didn't think the film was bad, not by any means, but after seeing the film I can say as I was expecting a lot more from this film.

                          The premise of the film was very intriguing as it was something I didn't have a lot of knowledge about and seemed like an interesting topic. The problem this film has right from the beginning is that it starts right at the turning point of the film. The film opens up with Dwayne Johnson's son being arrested so right from the get go the audience is robbed of any emotional background to these characters and later when they share their first scenes together they feel forced and don't feel real when they occur. Also outside Dwayne Johnson, Jon Berthal, and Dwayne Johnson's son in the movie the rest of the cast are pretty one dimensional. They really have nothing to do and its easily to see in the film that they are there just to feel out certain scenes together. When the film does focus on the main characters it works for the most part as the film continues all are protagonist are given plenty to do. With this being an action film, I really felt the film was derived of any true action scenes except for the ending and I felt the director Ric Roman Waugh had a hard time balancing the emotional aspects of the story with the action.

                      Dwayne Johnson has seen his star rise recently as this is the first of five films he is starring in 2013. I've never really been a fan of Dwayne Johnson, except for "Fast Five" I've really never been a fan of any of his films. That being said in this film I felt Dwayne Johnson was fine, the script didn't really ask him to go to far out of his comfort zone so he was fine. Jon Berthal (The Walking Dead) had the best subplot of the story, anytime him and his family was on screen I really felt more involved with the story I don't know if there story felt more realistic or not it's just my feelings while seeing it. The entire film was based on a true story but somehow I don't believe anything close to this actually happening. The film also stars Susan Sarandon as a political head and her character was pretty flat, I mean anyone really could have played her role she was really feeling a background role like I said earlier. Overall the rest of the cast was fine nothing special or standoutish about the rest of them.

                     The film is director by Ric Roman Waugh who is someone I'm not truly familiar with the work of, but for the most part his directing of this film was fine. The story went at a pretty even pace only a few times did I feel the film became clunky. The writing of the film was alright but I feel the directing of the film was good enough that not until after the movie did I notice the cliched dialouge.

                    It might seemed that I was being pretty rough on "Snitch" but that was only because I was expecting a lot from it. The film features an emotinal depth that most action films don't cross these days but I only feel that they could have gone deeper with the story of the film because it almost takes a background to Dwayne Johnson's role. The film is entertaining as the action is good and the film had some interesting developments to it. I believe if you see this film at matinee price you'll be fine but this is probably a one watch for me. 

Final Grade: C+