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Dwayne
“The Rock”
Johnson has forged a successful film career from cracking skulls,
taking names
and strangely squeezing his oversized frame into kid flicks. While his
films
have always been light on acting they have always been heavy on the
hitting at
least. His latest film attempts to tell a human story while also
providing his
long time fans with a little bloodshed along the way. The Rock plays
all
American dad John Mathews. Loosely based on a true story, Snitch
is the story of a father who goes undercover for the DEA.
His aim is to inform on drug dealers in exchange for his sons freedom
from
prison after the little tike is busted with a rock stars supply of
drugs. Susan
Sarandon plays US attorney Joanne Keeghan who then manipulates John to
progress
further up the ladder of the criminal underworld to infiltrate a
dangerous
Mexican drug cartel.
The
story behind Snitch is
relatively uninteresting, but that fact will not be a shock to many.
Another
major problem with Snitch is The Rock
and his bulking mass trying to be passed off as the norm for a suburban
father.
The wrestler looks out of place everywhere in this film and when put
next to
criminals who are supposed to be intimidating, it’s just ridiculous. He
looks
like a tiger thrown into a cage of tiny kittens and the effect is
almost
comical. The support cast does an adequate job of repeating the
scripted
clichés with gusto or teary intensity, depending on what the moment
requires.
Unfortunately, none of the supports (including Joe Bernthal from the Walking Dead and Barry Pepper from Saving
Private Ryan) are given the
chance to show us anything different from previous work. When the
action hits,
it is shot quite well and thankfully not over done with slow motion or
over
used multi angles. The car stunts look fantastic and are done without
the use
of computer graphics.
Snitch is an
adequate action film and a terribly bad
drama film rolled into one. Is action/drama a genre now? With a more
capable
actor and tighter script this could have been an interesting film. What
we are
left with is an unbelievable and undercooked action film that misses
the very
easy target it is going for. Snitch
is not completely unentertaining - it’s just not engaging. The Rock
does have a
certain onscreen charisma, but he is wasting that limited talent trying
to be a
serious actor. His believability in these kinds of roles is equal to
his skill
as an actual wrestler: none. If you must watch this film, rent it.
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