The last Johnson film I remember being totally lackadaisical about was 2010’s “Faster,” in which that huge guy formerly known as The Rock played a man avenging his brother’s death by hunting down and killing a number of bad, bad people. In “Snitch,” Johnson isn’t exactly a murderer, nor are his motives that black and white, but this film is similarly useless. There’s a moral message in here somewhere, something about whether snitching is right and wrong or which is the bigger evil, the drug cartel or the U.S. government, but man, it’s so unclear. The film has an awkwardly murky ethical standing, and given all of its other problems—horrible female characters, a last-ditch effort for the film to be an action movie, and frustrating internal logic—it becomes a hugely wasted opportunity.
“Snitch” is supposedly based on “true events” (on a “Frontline” documentary about the snitching method encouraged by some members of the war on drugs), but it starts off ridiculously and only builds from there. The film opens with teenager Jason (Rafi Gavron, of “The Cold Light of Day”), who kind of agrees to accept a delivery of a bag of ecstasy at his house for a friend and then maybe help him sell it. That ambiguous involvement in this drug-dealing scheme leads to Jason’s arrest and to the federal prosecutor pushing for a minimum sentence of 10 years, which thoroughly freaks out Jason’s divorced parents, the useless, clueless Sylvie (Melina Kanakaredes, of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief”), and the put-together, wealthy, and calm John (Johnson, of “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” “Fast Five,” “Faster,” “The Other Guys,” “Tooth Fairy,” “Planet 51,” and “Race to Witch Mountain”).
Because Jason got set up by his friend, Jason’s lawyer wants him to set up other friends, snitch on them, and get his sentence reduced, but Jason refuses to con another person. And because Sylvie is a hysterical, blubbering mess, it’s up to John to step up to the plate to save Jason. Using his contacts throughout the city (because as a successful and rich business owner, John has a lot of favors to call in), John gets a meeting with prosecutor Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon, of “Cloud Atlas,” “Jeff, Who Lives At Home,” and “The Lovely Bones”) and offers to help in any way he can. Could he make arrests to lessen Jason’s sentence? Why, of course! What a highly unlikely, but totally legitimate in this film, scenario.
So John begins his sort-of vigilante quest, hoping to, with the help of undercover cop Cooper (Barry Pepper, of “True Grit”) make large drug deliveries for a dealer who he could then turn over to Joanne. He begins lying to everyone—his ex-wife, his new wife, Jason, etc.—and enlists ex-con employee Daniel (Jon Bernthal, of “Date Night” and “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”) to set him up with a contact. And then that contact, Malik (Michael K. Williams), leads him up the chain of command, connecting him with Mexican cartel leader El Topo (Benjamin Bratt). But even though John may be getting in over his head, he refuses to stop—he’s going to help his son, no matter what, even as the drug dealers get more vicious, the U.S. government more manipulative, and the risks more intense.
The problem with all this, though, is—well, actually, there are many problems. Director/writer Ric Roman Waugh and co-writer Justin Haythe have created a film that is not only impressive for its wholly negative portrayal of all women ever, but also that too easily employs race- and class-based stereotypes in its supposedly feel-good message of fatherly love. Every single woman in the film, from judge to prison guard to mother to lawyer, is either two-faced, opportunistic, nagging, short-sighted, or otherwise flawed. They exist only to serve as opponents or victims, for John and other male characters to either defeat or save. They contribute nothing of value. And similarly infuriating is the film’s portrayal of race and class, of minority drug dealers who prey on stable middle-class America in their quest to bring down white suburbia. It’s just a weird mix and conflation of stereotypes, and when the film decides to be an action movie at the last second, it feels like a cheap ploy to keep our attention.
Of course, Johnson is charismatic as ever, and Pepper, Bernthal, and Williams are good, too—their characters should have been more than barely sketched. But “Snitch” is so busy pretending to have some kind of deeper political meaning that it ends up shortchanging everyone involved, both the actors and us.
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