Snitch

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Susan Sarandon, Jon Bernthal, Barry Pepper, Rafi Gavron, Melina Kanakaredes, Benjamin Bratt, Nadine Velazquez, Michael K Williams, Lela Loren, Harold Perrineau

Director: Ric Roman Waugh

A rather dour account, directed by a former film stuntman and based on true events, of how John Matthews (Johnson), the owner of a trucking business, in order to save his son (Gavron) from a lengthy prison sentence on drug possession charges, turned DEA informant to bring down a major narcotics cartel.

An over-abundance of characters doing not very much means that the film's bursts of action, and especially the breakneck climax, as John's cover is blown, and the bad guys try to stop his truck (carrying billions in cartel money) in a frantic highway chase, at least wake us up as our attention wanders.

Johnson is intense, if little more, as the hero, while Sarandon breezes her way through the part of the prosecutor who offers him the dangerous deal to save his son's neck. Other performances barely register in their stereotypical roles, and the director's predilection for handheld camerawork adds little to the immediacy or action of the narrative.

David Quinlan

USA 2012. UK Distributor: Entertainment One. Colour by deluxe.
112 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 2, Swearing 0.

Review date: 16 Jun 2013