The following is an excerpt from my review of Snitch, published in Next Projection. You can read the full review here. I gave it a generous 79/100.
Life’s too short to be subtle all the time. Sometimes, you need a good kick to the skull, a nice pull on the heartstrings, to get a message across. It’s OK, I think you’ll agree, to occasionally sacrifice nuance in the name of reaching a larger audience.
Such is the thinking, I presume, behind Snitch, a zero-subtlety drama on America’s drug laws. Snitch unfolds like an extended episode of HBO’s “The Wire,” only with broader characters and more car chases. But what it lacks in artfulness, it makes up for in its earnest effort to spark a dialogue on mass incarceration and the war on drugs.
Certainly, no one will walk into Snitch expecting — or even wanting — a studious dissection of these issues. The film stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a man whose other 2013 credits include a G.I. Joe sequel, a Fast and Furious sequel, and a Michael Bay movie. Though a far more charismatic presence than most meathead tough-guys, Johnson rarely strays from generic, bankable entertainments. That a star of his caliber would choose to star in a broadside against mandatory minimum sentencing laws makes Snitch an important work, if not a particularly cinematic one.
