JamesG
02-22-2013, 08:15 PM
Movie Reviews: Snitch
While Snitch, starring Duane “The Rock” Johnson, is billed as an action thriller, several critics contend that the action is not as thrilling as the plot about a man trying to save his son from a mandatory prison sentence after he is framed for a drug crime.
Claudia Puig in USA Today says:
“In its focus on an ordinary family facing a nightmarish scenario, Snitch is a terrifying but relatable story.”
Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune writes:
“Snitch has a way of keeping you guessing about the next turn in its story, and a way of keeping Johnson’s character compellingly at the mercy of others.”
And beyond presenting an effective family drama, Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times observes that the movie also:
“executes two missions: A) to entertain us; and B) to put some big exclamation points on a couple of messages about certain drug laws in this country in need of a thorough reexamination.”
But other critics aren’t buying it.
Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News writes:
“Half crime thriller, half family drama, with a bit of legal and behind-prison-walls suspense thrown in, Snitch is like watching an elephant on ice: inelegant, but you admire the effort.”
Manohla Dargis in the New York Times argues that the film eventually loses dramatic balance and morphs:
“into an uneasy hybrid of issue-oriented drama and action-adventure blowout.”
Betsy Sharkey observes in the Los Angeles Times observes that all of the talk in the movie about unjust drug laws:
“would be fine, but the dialogue is preachy, the drama too earnest and the action kind of sluggish.”
-IMDB News
While Snitch, starring Duane “The Rock” Johnson, is billed as an action thriller, several critics contend that the action is not as thrilling as the plot about a man trying to save his son from a mandatory prison sentence after he is framed for a drug crime.
Claudia Puig in USA Today says:
“In its focus on an ordinary family facing a nightmarish scenario, Snitch is a terrifying but relatable story.”
Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune writes:
“Snitch has a way of keeping you guessing about the next turn in its story, and a way of keeping Johnson’s character compellingly at the mercy of others.”
And beyond presenting an effective family drama, Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times observes that the movie also:
“executes two missions: A) to entertain us; and B) to put some big exclamation points on a couple of messages about certain drug laws in this country in need of a thorough reexamination.”
But other critics aren’t buying it.
Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News writes:
“Half crime thriller, half family drama, with a bit of legal and behind-prison-walls suspense thrown in, Snitch is like watching an elephant on ice: inelegant, but you admire the effort.”
Manohla Dargis in the New York Times argues that the film eventually loses dramatic balance and morphs:
“into an uneasy hybrid of issue-oriented drama and action-adventure blowout.”
Betsy Sharkey observes in the Los Angeles Times observes that all of the talk in the movie about unjust drug laws:
“would be fine, but the dialogue is preachy, the drama too earnest and the action kind of sluggish.”
-IMDB News