SNITCH

year: 2013 cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jon Bernthal, Barry Pepper rating: ***

Since Dwayne Johnson’s John Matthews is the type of boss who can and will, if need be, jump out of his expensive all-terrain vehicle and help a struggling blue collar employee load bags of cement, it’s no surprise he’s the kind of father who, once his estranged son is sent to prison for allowing marijuana to be shipped to his mom’s house and given a ten-year sentence, to do anything possible to help the kid out, including risking his own life.

Matthews owns a trucking company and has the means to haul just about anything. With the help of a hardened Drug Enforcement Officer (Barry Pepper) and a shifty politician (Susan Sarandon), he’s given a task… his own idea, actually… to help bust important drug dealers to get his son a lighter sentence. In other words, he’d be a snitch.

His real partner is the same guy he’d helped load those cement bags, an ex convict named Daniel, played by Jon Bernthal, whose character also has a son influenced by the drug culture, so he’s no fan of dealers.

Daniel’s character trumps John in many ways. He’s more nitty-gritty and, being closer to the action and with connections to boot, he’s the guy who brings his boss into the world of drug trafficking, first through a relatively small time player which progresses into the Mexican cartel.

The coolest action scene occurs after John and Daniel drive to a rural junkyard where a seemingly simple deal turns into a modern day Wild West shootout. There’s a decent amount of suspense added since this is John's first score. After a truck-crashing escape with guns blasting everywhere, Dan proves his worth as an intrepid driver and becomes the Cartel’s prime choice for a big cash exchange in Mexico, which sadly never occurs.

Although the finale, involving John's truck being chased by armed thugs on a freeway, is somewhat intense and looks fantastic, that initial Mexico plan, that sounded like an intense nail-biting caper, would have been a much better climax… Why did they have to tease us so?