Snowden is not as propagandistic as I expected it to be, being an Oliver Stone movie about a big political issue; but it isn't particularly effective as either message or entertainment.
The biggest problem is that Edward Snowden does not seem to be a very interesting character, at least as portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is a good enough actor that I suspect he was just stuck with an emotionless role. Snowden even goes through what appears to be a nervous breakdown without a big scene, and the movie is too little concerned with his motive for sacrificing everything in his live by releasing ton loads of federal surveillance telephone files to the media. He makes a few bumper-sticker statements about public service, but they're too trite to be convincing. And without more characterization, we're left with action that looks and feels like repetition, so there's no sense of forward motion. I needed to know whether any internet system can be protected from a genius hacker, and what the danger was to national security, corporations, companies, and individuals like you and me.
There were other things I needed to know, too. How could a federal employee who was under surveillance himself arrange for political asylum in Russia? Exactly what were the issues that drove Snowden to quit the CIA twice? What were the apparently legitimate constitutional and legal objections to the United States security laws? It's hard for me to not think I missed something.
I may give Snowden another try, when it comes out on television.
