Snitch Review

A tattletale tale---Susan Sarandon and Dwayne Johnson as a district attorney and a man who must get his son out of jail in Snitch
                                        Snitch is the anti-Tooth Fairy. There is not one scene of Dwayne Johnson wearing a tutu and it is Johnson at his ass kicking best. Snitch is also surprisingly smart and subtle about the story it tells. Until the last 20 minutes...it takes the road unfortunately not often taken. It is an action film with heart and real, tangible suspense.

                                         In the film...Johnson plays John Matthews. His son, Jason (Rafi Gavron) just got busted for having many pounds of narcotics delivered to him. Jason is now in jail and after a meeting with a district attorney (Susan Sarandon)....John sets out to catch two different drug cartels. This involves getting one of his employees (Jon Bernthal) to introduce him to the drug cartel world. The two cartels are led by Malik (Michael Kenneth Williams) and El Topo (Benjamin Bratt.) Also involved is a DEA agent (Barry Pepper.)

                                          The casting is solid from top to bottom. Johnson makes the perfect hero who's sympathetic even if his character is being accurate to the film's title. Gavron is extremely believable as a dumb  kid who got caught up in a sticky situation. Bernthal is a convincing ex-con. Williams and Bratt are very creepy as the drug kingpins and Pepper is phenomenal as the gritty DEA agent. The film also features smart dialogue galore. The audience gets caught up in the world of these people (mostly because the dialogue is so believable.) As well---the story is so exciting and realistic that you start to ask yourself "what would I do if I were in this situation?" The last 20 minutes does become too much of a fantastic and takes away from the realistic, gritty situation at hand but it doesn't ruin the film by any means.

                                            Snitch isn't exactly going to make my list of the 10 or even 20 best films of 2013. However---in the midst of February where 98% of the films in theaters are either humdrum or ridiculous....Snitch is a nice vacation into a thrilling, more realistic approach to your typical action film.
(3 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for drug content and sequences of violence)