The Snare Movie Review

“The Snare” might be considered a modern day morality tale for the current generation. When a young girl makes a bad choice, she ends up on an escalating path of unyielding consequences. Much like the 1950’s scare drama called “Reefer Madness”, you might think of this one as ‘Molly Mania’.

 

Dani (played by Cassady McClincy Zhang) has a lot of things going in her favor. She has just graduated from high school. She has a menial job at a fast-food place. She has a scholarship to a state college, since she is a straight-A student.

 

She has a mother, Faye (played by Lucy Walters), who is way too busy working multiple jobs. Her younger brother Bison (played by Joaopaulo Malheiro) is a handful, and he would rather skate with his friends than work on his homework.

 

She gets persuaded by her classmates, AJ (played by Esther Zyskind) and Carla (played by Anire Kim Amoda) do get something ‘special’ for the final graduation bash. Of course, these kids never remembered anything from the DARE program, that keeps you away from drugs.

 

So they convince Dani to meet up with a guy from school named Marty (played by Dempsey Bryk). He is a local connection for the party drug Molly (played by MDMA). Dani has met Marty a few times, and she really likes the guy. But for this particular instance, he is ready for some Molly pills that she is buying.

 

She gives a quick kiss, but is on her way. She sees her ignorant brother running out of a store. His little hoodlum friends are trying to shoplift. Dani goes over to help him get out of a jam. But before she knows it, the police are on the scene.

 

Two detectives take Dani in, once they find she is also carrying Molly. Things do not look good for her. They explain that since this was in a school zone, they can get her prison time for attempting to distribute Molly to kids.

 

Yikes! These detectives are Det. Ted Anderson (played by Royce Johnson) and Det. Camarillo (played by Elizabeth Stahlmann). There is only one way that Dani could get out of this jam…

 

Dani would need to cooperate with the detectives to get in contact with her ‘dealer’. She explains she got these pills from some random guy at a party. But these paper-thin lies are discounted by the Detective Team.

 

What Dani needs to focus on is getting to her dealer, and then getting to the next level up. Busting one high-school age kid for a few pill is not as impressive as taking down a bigger drug source.

 

After all, this is her decision to make: get with the cops to find a bigger drug dealer, or get sent into prison for a spell. What Dani has not told them is that her Dad is now serving time in a state lockup.

 

It was basically from drug use that turned into dealing. These cops have her over a barrel in terms of what path she can take. She must now get back with Marty, in order to find somebody big to take down.

 

Against her better judgment, she gets with Marty to convince him she needs a much bigger stash. A lot more Molly pills, and maybe something harder. Oh, yeah – and also small caliber gun. Say What? Marty is confused that Dani has all of sudden decided to go ‘Breaking Bad’. Dani is broken up inside, because she is feeling pressured to go this route.

 

Marty drives Dani over to some guy who might fit the bill. This old dilapidated meth-cooking flop house is home to a Major Drug Dealer named Sam (played by Dominic Bogart). Only Dani is allowed inside the house. The dude is not convinced that any of Dani’s story is real.

 

He forces her to almost strip down, to show that she is not wearing a wire. He is about ready to assault Dani. Marty breaks into the house and slams the guy with a board. They both flee – fearing for their lives.

 

This did not end well for Dani. She was almost assaulted, and she feels creeping trauma. Also, the Detective Team are royally pissed that she did not get any leads to the next level of dealer. That is the only thing they wanted from Dani. And now that opportunity has passed. That does not mean they will both stop pushing Dani from getting somebody else.

 

At this point, Dani is turning into a total wreck. There is nobody she can confide in and ask for advice. It is past the point that she can get herself out of the situation that she is in. She slacks off more and more. She starts smoking and drinking.

 

She misses getting to work, and is fired from her job. She cannot hang out with her friends anymore. All she wants to do is spend more time with Marty. But he possibly the only ‘drug dealer’ she can give up to the cops.

 

It is harder and harder, because Dani is finding out that she loves Marty. He is more of an easy-wheeling player, so only some of his affections are for Dani. But they are also for some other girls he spends time with. But even Marty has a rough time right now.

 

His mother left one day and never returned. He is left to care for an obnoxious little bother. All that this kid wants to do is play video shoot-em-up games. His controller for the games looks just like a gun. Now that will never come into the story, right?

 

Dani finally breaks her own heart by turning in her only true love. Marty is put into the crosshairs as a staged buy goes down in his house. But the police action takes a fatal turn and the situation is (again) out of control.

 

The Detective Team always wanted a big Major Player, but they will settle for a smaller fish. The people come out Marty’s house, but one of them needs to be carried out on a gurney.

 

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“The Snare” could be one of those movies inspired from the late 1980’s “War on Drugs” movement. Just like Nancy Reagan with “Just Say No”, this movie puts an emphasis on opposite. The main character making the initial mistake of getting drugs leads her down a winding and an insidious path without any easy solution.

 

Cassady McClincy Zhang does a superb job playing Dani. She seems always lost and over her head in situations that she cannot control. Her ability to pull this off is impressive and making looking scared very easy.

 

Dempsey Bryk is the other talented actor in the role of Marty. He makes the actions of Marty in selling and handling drugs almost a noble act. He is doing it to keep himself and his brother off the streets and keep a roof over their heads.

 

The overall movie was pretty well made, in terms of look and feel. There is a dispirited air of resignation in this town they all live in. There a sense of optimistic hope that seems to always get trampled underfoot. The story is pretty cut-and-dried, not leaving a lot of room for nuance. The movie length stretches out to nearly two hours, and it could have been cut down to quicker pace in a few places.

 

“The Snare” can be a bit of downer, if you don’t want to see your main character stuck in an untenable and unending bad situation. But then again, FAFO. If you F*** Around, you Find Out…