Film Review: "Snowden" (2016).

"Freedom fighters. Enemy of the state." This is Snowden. This biographical thriller film directed by Oliver Stone, written by Stone and Kieran Fitzgerald, and based on the books The Snowden Files by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena. Disillusioned with the intelligence community, top contractor Edward Snowden leaves his job at the National Security Agency. He now knows that a virtual mountain of data is being assembled to track all forms of digital communication -- not just from foreign governments and terrorist groups, but from ordinary Americans. When Snowden decides to leak this classified information, he becomes a traitor to some, a hero to others and a fugitive from the law.

In January 2014, Stone began meeting with Snowden. At first, Snowden was wary about the idea of turning his life into a film. In late May, Stone went to meet Snowden two more times, and Snowden finally agreed to the idea. Although he became involved in the project, he was given no script approval, nor did he receive any payment for the film. Snowden had seen a piece of Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States and was fascinated by it. Columbia Pictures already had the rights to Greenwald's book on the case. In early June, it was announced that Stone and Moritz Borman had acquired the rights to Harding's The Snowden Files, and that Stone would write and direct the film. Eight days later, Stone acquired the rights to Kucherena's Time of the Octopus. In April 2015, WikiLeaks revealed that Sony paid $700,000 for the rights to Harding's book and $1 million for the rights to Kucherena's novel. To ensure that the script would not be hacked or leaked, Stone wrote it on a single computer with no Internet connection. In early November 2014, it was announced that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would star as Snowden. By mid February 2015, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Scott Eastwood, Logan Marshall-Green, Timothy Olyphant, Ben Schnetzer, LaKeith Lee Stanfield, Rhys Ifans, Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, and Ben Chaplin rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, with a budget of $40 million, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in late April. Filming took place in Munich, Germany; Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, U.S.A..; Oahu, Hawaii; Hong Kong; Moscow, Russia; and Geneva, Switzerland. The film was shot digitally on the new 6.5k ALEXA 65 camera, the first for Stone.

The film stars Gordon-Levitt, in the title role, Woodley, Leo, Quinto, Wilkinson, Eastwood, Marshall-Green, Olyphant, Schnetzer, Lee Stanfield, Ifans, Cage, Richardson, and Chaplin. The cast, especially Gordon-Levitt, is by far the film's trump card, bequeathing us with convincing impersonations of the real-life figures, especially Snowden. Sadly, that's all they are: impersonations.

Heavy on detail and melodrama but missing the spark from its remarkable real-life inspiration, Snowden mostly serves as a middling showcase for Gordon-Levitt's remarkable talent. The film hobbles itself by trying to cram in more context-needy material than any single drama should have to bear.

Simon says Snowden receives:

Also, see my review for Savages.