When "Snitch" began playing and the words "Inspired by true events" popped up, I laughed out loud. Nothing is more vague than "inspired by" let alone "true events." They might as well not put anything about the "reality" of the story about to unfold. A cursory search after the film revealed that, sure enough, this true story is bullshit (check out this great article). Does this type of marketing actually work on people? Do people really walk out of this type of movie saying, "That really happened to somebody!" If so, America has far worse to worry about than economic hardship and fundamentalist terrorism.
Enough about that. "Snitch" is being sold as an action movie even though it only contains one action sequence. Sure, some guns are fired off earlier in the movie. But when the hero sees other people shooting at each other and runs away, that doesn't really make for much of an action scene.
Couple the action movie marketing and the presence of Dwayne "The Artist Formerly Known as The Rock" Johnson with a film that plays out as a semi-political/family drama and you have the potential for upset moviegoers and/or shattered expectations (and run-on sentences).
Now, after three paragraphs of pretty negative statements, how did I feel about the movie? I kinda liked it. It's an ultimately forgettable piece of Hollywood fluff, but it's entertaining.
Is the tone of the film all sorts of confused? Sure, but that adds to some of the charm. To be fair to the marketing team, "Snitch" is filmed like a modern, generic action film. So when Susan Sarandon shows up and proceeds to play her role as if she's in a political procedural, it can be a bit jarring. Barry Pepper (looking as if he just came from a guest spot on "Sons of Anarchy") plays the whole movie like it's a gritty crime thriller. Jon Bernthal is acting like he's in a story about family and redemption. And The Rock acts like he's out of his league. But he probably just as confused about what kind of movie this is as I was.
However, it is fun to stumble through the clunky story. And if you do, you will be rewarded with a pretty great car chase at the end. It feels like ages since a movie used real car crashes. Some movies use a few, but "Snitch" wrecks a bunch of cars awesomely.
It can be a bit much to ask someone to sit through 2 awkward hours of drama medley just to see 10 minutes of badass car crashes, but I enjoyed this odd ball movie. Watch it if only to imagine the other actors that would've been more suitable for playing a frightened, run-of-the-mill trucker.
6 out of 10
Enough about that. "Snitch" is being sold as an action movie even though it only contains one action sequence. Sure, some guns are fired off earlier in the movie. But when the hero sees other people shooting at each other and runs away, that doesn't really make for much of an action scene.
Couple the action movie marketing and the presence of Dwayne "The Artist Formerly Known as The Rock" Johnson with a film that plays out as a semi-political/family drama and you have the potential for upset moviegoers and/or shattered expectations (and run-on sentences).
Now, after three paragraphs of pretty negative statements, how did I feel about the movie? I kinda liked it. It's an ultimately forgettable piece of Hollywood fluff, but it's entertaining.
Is the tone of the film all sorts of confused? Sure, but that adds to some of the charm. To be fair to the marketing team, "Snitch" is filmed like a modern, generic action film. So when Susan Sarandon shows up and proceeds to play her role as if she's in a political procedural, it can be a bit jarring. Barry Pepper (looking as if he just came from a guest spot on "Sons of Anarchy") plays the whole movie like it's a gritty crime thriller. Jon Bernthal is acting like he's in a story about family and redemption. And The Rock acts like he's out of his league. But he probably just as confused about what kind of movie this is as I was.
However, it is fun to stumble through the clunky story. And if you do, you will be rewarded with a pretty great car chase at the end. It feels like ages since a movie used real car crashes. Some movies use a few, but "Snitch" wrecks a bunch of cars awesomely.
It can be a bit much to ask someone to sit through 2 awkward hours of drama medley just to see 10 minutes of badass car crashes, but I enjoyed this odd ball movie. Watch it if only to imagine the other actors that would've been more suitable for playing a frightened, run-of-the-mill trucker.
6 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment