For a movie that aims to be thrilling and suspenseful, Snowden does just the opposite. Snowden tells the story of the titular whistleblower, a former NSA contractor who revealed many of the intensive and illegal surveillance techniques the United States government uses on the citizens of the world — as well as the startling breadth of the information collected.
The NSA collected information without warrants, often going beyond counterterrorism and using their power for political and monetary gain. Snowden’s actions lead to formal complaints filed against the U.S. and U.K. governments through the European Court of Human Rights for a breach of privacy laws. Major companies like Google and Facebook filed lawsuits against the U.S. government to allow them more transparency in their disclosure of national security compliance. Nineteen proposals calling for reform of U.S. surveillance laws are presently unsettled.
Given the interest and intrigue inspired by its subject matter, this movie falls surprisingly flat. Thought it reinforces the unlawful overstep of the NSA, the story is unnecessarily drawn out and lacks any sort of emotional turbulence. Even with opportunities for stunning visuals in locations like Hawaii and Hong Kong, the imagery comes off as bland and unappealing.
Other than Snowden himself — about whom many already know much — the characters are all poorly developed, only existing to encourage or distract Snowden from his goal. The government employees either nonchalantly take advantage of their power or quietly disagree with it. At the extreme end of this spectrum is Hank Forrester, played by Nicolas Cage, whose sole purpose is to plant the idea in Snowden’s head that the government can be evil. The only way he could be more one-dimensional here would be if he stole the Declaration of Independence.
The structure of the film is overly complicated in its storytelling method. It goes on chronologically for a while, then cuts back to Snowden and the three journalists in his hotel room hideout in Hong Kong. Rather than adding dramatic flair, the sequencing takes you out of the moment.
The climax and the ending are unexciting and undeserved. What should feel like a victory for the American people was actually highlighted by the few brief seconds in the office of Corbin O’Brian (played by Rhys Ifans) when a small dog fidgets in the lower left corner of the screen. The dog had no significance, but it probably enjoyed the toys resulting from O’Brian’s profiteering. While Snowden does give a compelling glimpse into the means by which he achieved this feat and arrived at the burdensome decision to blow the whistle, the end of the movie felt more like the puff of a kazoo.
Overall, this film is misguided. Edward Snowden’s goal was to open the debate of privacy to the public, but director Oliver Stone uses fear tactics to sway the audience in support of Snowden. Snowden makes a feeble attempt to show bipartisanship, but predictably ends in favor of his actions.
And it takes over two hours to do so.
Snowden
Two of five stars
Rated R. Directed by Oliver Stone.
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo.
This article appears in Sep 8-15, 2016.