Snitch (film)

Plot

John Matthews (Dwayne Johnson), owner of a construction company, receives a call from his ex-wife Sylvie Collins (Melina Kanakaredes). His estranged son Jason (Rafi Gavron) is being charged with distribution of narcotics; while Jason is not actually a dealer, his friend set him up in a sting operation to reduce his own sentence after being caught. Jasons charges carry a minimum of 10 years in prison. John feels responsible because he was not there for his son, and becomes desperate as he realizes that Jason may be killed before he finishes his prison sentence.

Using his connections, John arranges several meetings with the local US Attorney Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon), who is running a very aggressive anti-drug campaign to bolster her chances for election to Congress. Joanne agrees to reduce Jasons sentence if John will inform on a drug dealer, but states that hell receive little help from her and that the risk will be all his. Agent Cooper (Barry Pepper) leads a task force which will monitor any dealings John arranges to use as evidence for an arrest. John searches through his employee records and finds an employee on his payroll with two former distribution convictions. Daniel James (Jon Bernthal) is currently leading a clean life to avoid a third strike, because he now has a wife and young son to care for. John offers twenty thousand dollars if Daniel will simply introduce him to a dealer. Daniel initially refuses but later agrees so that he can move to a safer apartment for his son, though he is unaware that John is acting as an informant.

Daniel introduces John to Malik, an extremely dangerous, high-ranking local drug dealer, who like Daniel has two strikes. Explaining that his business cannot stay afloat in the current economy without a supplement to its revenues, John offers to run nearly limitless amounts of drugs at almost zero risk in his freight trucks. Because his is a legitimate business, the trucks avoid suspicion and carry too much freight to be thoroughly searched. Malik agrees under the one condition that John and Daniel drive the initial run themselves.

John and Agent Cooper arrange for several wire taps to be put in place to catch the transactions involved. John drives to the pick-up point near the Mexican border. In the process, a rival gang ambushes the pick-up, but John manages a daring escape, impressing cartel kingpin Juan Carlos "El Topo" Pintera (Benjamin Bratt), whose cartel successfully fights off the ambushers. John successfully completes his end of the deal, delivering the drugs to Malik while under surveillance by Agent Cooper. Malik mentions a meeting with cartel members higher than himself: Cooper, hoping to catch the higher priority targets, refuses to arrest Malik during the deal. Keeghan claims Cooper did the right thing and refuses to reduce Jasons sentence unless John cooperates in a second meeting. John, outraged, agrees only if Jason is released when the job is completed, rather than just a reduction in sentence. Around this time, Daniel finds out about the arrangement John made with the police and is furious, saying that the cartel will kill John, Daniel, and their families if the truth comes out. John and Daniel send their families into hiding.

John meets with Juan Carlos Pintera under much higher cartel security than he has seen so far. Juan wants John to run nearly $100 million in drug profits into Mexico, back to the cartel base of operations, and offers to make John a member of the cartels inner circle if he succeeds. John reports this back to Keeghan and Cooper. Keeghan is ecstatic about finding such a large target, but Cooper has a change of heart and tries to talk John out of doing the run because he suspects the cartel will kill him afterward.

John devises a plan to free himself and Daniel from both the government and the cartel. During the run, John is able to escape Coopers surveillance. At the same time, Daniel raids Maliks house, killing Maliks guards and wounding Malik. Before dying, Malik reveals Juan Carloss cell phone number to Daniel. John calls Cooper and has him track both his new cell phone and Juan Carloss phone, effectively giving Cooper both the money and the kingpin at once. After a highway chase and shoot-out, caused by the cartels realization that John is an informant, John escapes. Cartel members and the money are seized by Coopers men. Juan Carlos is also captured; he is unwilling to get into a shoot-out with the police, because his young son is with him.

The film ends with Jason being released the next day. John and his family go into the witness protection program. Daniel refuses to go into the program, saying he and his family will go into hiding on their own. Because Daniel has lost his job, John leaves Daniel the large reward check that John was supposed to receive for the capture of Juan Carlos.

Cast

Production

Snitch is directed by Ric Roman Waugh and written by Waugh and Justin Haythe. The project was first set up in 2004 by Guy East and Nigel Sinclair, partners at Spitfire Pictures. They were inspired by a Frontline documentary about how changes to the federal drug policy of the United States encouraged the incarcerated to snitch on their accomplices. Justin Haythe wrote the initial screenplay, and Waugh was hired to rewrite it. In March 2011, actor Dwayne Johnson was cast in the films starring role. Filming began in December 2011 in Bossier City, Louisiana, and it concluded on January 19, 2012.

Release

Snitch was released on February 22, 2013 in the United States and Canada. The film is distributed by Lionsgate subsidiary Summit Entertainment.

Box office

Snitch opened in 2,511 theaters in The United States and grossed $13,167,607 with an average of $5,244 per theater and ranking #2 at the box office. The film ultimately earned $42,930,462 domestically and $14,894,212 internationally for a total of $57,824,674.

Critical response

Snitch received mixed reviews from critics and has a "rotten" score of 56% on Rotten tomatoes based on 140 reviews with an average rating of 5.6 out of 10. The critical consensus states, "Though it features one of Dwayne Johnsons more thoughtful performances, the presentation of Snitchs underlying message is muddled by lackluster storytelling and some tonal inconsistencies." The film also has a score of 51 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 34 critics indicating "Mixed or average reviews."