Snitch 2013

Amy Nicholson, Birth.Movies.Death.: Yes, this is a film where The Rock Wikipedias "drug cartels." But somehow it works. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: Dwayne Johnson tries so hard to be taken seriously in the ponderous and preposterous drama Snitch that it hurts to watch him in much the same way it hurts to watch the weightlifting competition at the summer Olympics. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Mr. Johnson's screen presence, however charismatic, is out of sync with the rest of the movie. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: In its focus on an ordinary family facing a nightmarish scenario, Snitch is a terrifying but relatable story. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: "Snitch" is more of a dramatic thriller than an action movie, and director Ric Roman Waugh fills it with close-ups, dark interiors and tense faces. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: It builds into a moderately engaging character study of men driven to dangerous extremes by desperation ... Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: For all its lunkheadedness, "Snitch" is a shockingly deeper, less action-oriented affair than one would expect ... Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: Nobody is going to confuse a Dwayne Johnson movie with "Les Miserables." But "Snitch" gets a decent amount of drama (and action, of course) out of the argument that there's paying for a crime, and then there's overpaying. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "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. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: When the list of the year's most eminently forgettable films is drawn up at the end of 2013, "Snitch" will likely be near the top. Read more

Keith Staskiewicz, Entertainment Weekly: The film tries to paint in shades of gray with vague criticisms of the war on drugs, but the absurdity of its he-man Everyman plot ends up turning its moral palette a muddy brown. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Despite its apparent compromises to noble finger-wagging (initially) and requisite fist-pumping (eventually), Waugh has fashioned a sturdy character-first entertainment out of Snitch. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: Snitch runs close to two hours, and it's a credit to Summit Entertainment that they didn't reduce it to 90 minutes of Mexican drug loons trying to run John's truck off the highway. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Unusual for this sort of thing, Snitch is a film for which you remember the characters and actors more than the big action moments. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The dialogue is preachy, the drama too earnest and the action kind of sluggish, though it's hard not to get a jolt when Johnson jumps behind the wheel. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Ultimately, the social-issue element of the movie gets buried in the wreckage, but it's comforting to know it's there. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Ultimately, unfortunately, this is a property that probably would have been better as one of Johnson's old, less ambitious films - straightforwardly violent, and crammed with two-fisted revenge - than as this more polite, issue-oriented thriller. Read more

Scott Tobias, NPR: Whatever lizard-brain fun might have been had in watching Johnson do battle against a drug cartel is weakened by the occasional hard tug at the social conscience. The film winds up divided against itself. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: 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. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A glorified TV movie ... Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The B-movie action version of an advocacy doc: It tries (with some success) to show the inequity in a system in which a first offender on a drug charge can, in many cases, spend more time behind bars than a rapist, or armed robber, or even a murderer. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Someone please get director Ric Roman Waugh a tripod! Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: This movie 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 re-examination. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Based on a true story, it has the weirdness of real life, which is good. But also like real life, it has that funny way of not making much sense or being all that enjoyable. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: In "Snitch," Dwayne Johnson delivers a strong, disciplined performance as an ordinary civilian trapped in a Kafkaesque corner of the legal system. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: We could overlook the anachronisms if the story moved fast enough. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: What a pleasant surprise. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Williams, Bernthal and Pepper ride to the rescue of the marquee talent, and also to Snitch. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Designed to make empathetic citizens question the system, this strangely compelling issue pic plays less to auds' hearts than to their craving for testosterone ... Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Its nominal outrage over the severity of our nation's sentencing laws for first-time drug offenders is quickly subsumed by a jacked-up narrative of a father going to extremes to save his son. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: In the end, this is a movie that lives or dies on Johnson's performance, and luckily, the actor is perfect ... Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: "Snitch" is protein-and-starch filmmaking at its utilitarian -- and belly-filling -- best. Read more