Rating of
2/4
Snowden - Watch Jason Bourne instead. More action.
Indyfreak - wrote on 01/29/17
The true life story of Edward Snowden is tailor made for a director like Oliver Stone who cut his teeth on political dramas like JFK, Salvador, and Nixon. However, Stone wastes precious time on melodrama and hyperbolic posturing instead of the actual case itself. Let me put it this way. Snowden does not become a true whistleblower until an hour and 45 minutes into this two and a half hour film. It's a slog to get through.
The cast is not slouching though, to their credit. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is near perfect as the paranoid patriot who becomes ashamed of his government's activities. Shailene Woodley gives a compassionate performance as his girlfriend. The other actors honestly come and go. Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, and Joely Richardson play reporters trying to get his top secret information out to the people before the government catches them, serving as the audience in the story.
There are some stylish visuals that interrupt the monotony of Snowden going to work and being paranoid though. The best is a voice-over narration explaining how the government hacks private citizens. Pictures pop up in a dark vacuum and become connected to the point where from above, an eye is formed. It's Snowden's eye, looking at what he's become a part of. It proves a point and looks cool.
Why couldn't Oliver Stone make THAT movie instead?
