Review of Snowden (2016) by Skeptic303 — 23 Oct 2016

Snowden is the movie about Edward Snowden, who took it upon himself to release so-called "classified" documents. He currently has asylum in Russia for his actions, which are controversial among not only the public, but also in politics.

I would like to make one thing about this movie very clear: it is not only true to the facts, but it includes lots of great information. I will refrain from disclosing that information because this movie is worth a watch. However, the movie is clearly confused with how to handle these facts.

Bluntly, I will confess that I absolutely honor Edward Snowden's actions. By releasing those documents (which were deemed classified), he alerted the world about something it should know: the NSA has spied on so many people, that undoubtedly, it has crossed the line and traveled a million miles away from it. But the movie doesn't focus on the interest (Snowden's leak of the documents and the search for him) as much as it does with his background. That background runs through an hour and a half of this movie, and 70% of it doesn't belong in the movie. It comes across as filler and it doesn't develop Snowden as a character. Rather, many scenes end up being boring.

I'm not complaining about the facts nor am I complaining about Edward Snowden's life and actions. My only blame goes to the directing and the scenes in this movie that aren't necessary and make this movie a barely watchable drag. I still thought this movie was okay, but I can't grant it anything higher than a seal of mediocrity.