Snitch

Jmac:

Snitch is based on a true story, and a terrible one at that.

It is a highly political movie, with a message that will hopefully reach red states with its action packed trailers and overall nice hardcore guy Dwayne Johnson... aka ‘The Rock’ for some of the red state areas that don't get cable or have redbox. The message is that mandatory minimum drug sentencing while applicable in some cases is not a magic bullet that will end all drug trafficking. In fact all it does it crowd our already overcrowded prisons. A prison system which houses over 20% of the entire world's prison population, while the US only has 2% of the world’s total population..... can anyone say Gulag state....... (Hello NSA, I think I ticked all the boxes)

But I digress. While it is important to mention that the movie definitely has a political and social message, it is still full of action and intrigue, unlike political films like ‘Syriana’ which even I use a good way to fall asleep at night.

The movie’s plot centers around Dwayne Johnson’s son that is wrongfully accused and the hung out to dry by a friend who is the real drug dealer, and how Johnson works with the federal prosecutor in his son’s stead to clear his son’s name and reduce his sentence.... because as it is pointed out in movie, only the federal prosecutor has the power to reduce sentences when they are federally prosecuted drug cases.

Johnson goes from contracting with local gangbangers to Mexi cartel bosses, all while trying to keep his family safe and get a conviction that the (frankly snake in the grass) federal prosecutor needs to clear his son’s name.

The only way I can see to really fix this issue that plagues our society is to legalize light drugs, or carry out a full scale shadow war with air support..... with or without the consent of the Mexican government...... but we as a people don't really have the stomach for that.

I personally found it hilarious that the movie is supposedly based in Jefferson City MO, which I was born in and to reference an Austin Power’s line, it is amazing how southern Louisiana looks in no way like mid Missouri...... also Jeff City is really a stupid place for the distribution of narcotics, because it is on no major interstates, and as far a cities go, is quite small.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, which never had any lull moments like a lot of actions films do, and the action was entirely believable.... Johnson does not wipe out entire cartels of people single handedly all while smoking a cigar.

I give it 3.9 unneeded convictions out of 5.

“The average sentence for a first time non-violent drug offender convicted under the federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws is now longer than the average sentence for rape, child molestation, bank robbery and manslaughter.” All the while whole towns and the media try to push decades of rape under the rug in Ohio.