What would you do if your child was wrongly accused of drug smuggling? (Snitch)

Does that scenario sound familiar to you? When I first heard it my mind flashed with images of Schappelle Corby standing in a heated Bali courtroom hitting her forehead. I must admit I wasn’t too enthused about going to see Snitch but then I read the cast.

Snitch is an action thriller about a father John Matthews (Dwayne Johnson) whose 18 year old son Jason Collins (Rafi Gavron) is found in his bedroom having just picked up a parcel off his doorstep, and opening it finds a sizeable quantity of drugs.

Caught red-handed he’s facing a ten year jail sentence, or so it would seem until he’s offered a deal by US attorney Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon). The deal? Cough up the names of his dealers … snitch. But therein lies the problem. If you truly are innocent you don’t have any names to give up.

Enter fatherly love.

Determined to save his son, Johnson suggests he take his sons place as an undercover informant. What follows is a series of escalating situations that take Johnson deep inside the drug cartel, right up to the boss played brilliantly by Benjamin Bratt.

I like a good thriller and the odd Johnson movie, so I enjoyed this one. Johnson is highly believable as someone who wouldn’t be laughed off by a drug cartel. His partner Daniel James (Jon Bernthal), an ex-convict who just happens to work in Johnsons construction company, steals most of the scenes he’s in. Susan Sarandon looks very comfortable as the hardnosed attorney focused on re-election.

With the story ‘inspired by try events’ I left as I arrived, pondering about Schappelle’s case. I also left pondering the need for handheld cameras, again.

I spent about a third of the opening sequences with one eye firmly fixed on the floor for balance. Thankfully ‘shakycam’ tapered off as the film progressed. The fact that I made it through the shaky bits is an indication of how compelling the action became. If you like action films and Dwayne Johnson you’ll enjoy this one. You;ll probably also like the picture at the end of this post.

Rating: M
Running time: 112 mins
Watch the trailer online link to trailer