America’s greatest threat goes public after the hacking from the man who would come to be known as “Snowden”. Academy Award winning director Oliver Stone writes and directs this chilling drama, about Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a CIA agent and former contractor of the United States Government. Edward becomes a polarizing figure after exposing shocking illegal surveillance activities by the NSA and becomes one of the most wanted men in the world after his whistleblowing goes viral. His discovery sets him and his girlfriend Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley) on a trip across the world, while living through the paranoia of defying the biggest alliance in the world.  He is considered a hero by some and a traitor by others. No matter which you believe, the epic story of why he did it, who he left behind, and how he pulled it off makes for one of the most compelling films of the year. “Snowden” is rated R for adult language and sexuality involving nudity

If Oliver Stone can do one thing right, it’s telling a compelling story that will sit with audiences long after they’ve left the theater. This is the case with “Snowden”, the newest drama thriller that will have you staying away from technology in the same instance that “Jaws” made you stay out of the water.  By evidence of the passionate response that this has evoked in Stone, Edward Snowden’s story is one that he feels passionately about, and therefore the perfect man to serve as director for spicing this story up into a movie. There were some problems that I found along the way, but the strangest thing with “Snowden” is that its adaptation makes for a rough draft of a script, considering there’s nothing in it to really justify that thriller label. At two hours and nine minutes long, this movie is going to be a difficult one to recommend to audiences simply because it doesn’t follow the formula of Hollywood pacing, and as a result, will leave many feeling unfulfilled for the finished product, which certainly feels cluttered, and even cartoonish at times.

Snowden’s story has always been one of great intrigue for me, and I look at him as a hero. What’s great about this movie is that it doesn’t feel as pushed by a usual agenda by Stone, similar to a film like “JFK” in his filmography. What this movie does is lay all of the facts in front of the moviegoers who seek it out, and lets them judge for themselves who is right and who is wrong. The biggest difficulty will be for some to open their eyes for the first time to something so unbelievable and shocking to be done by the same people who were sworn to protect us. Stone’s direction masters the art of psychologically un-wrapping his title character piece-by-piece until we understand the motivations for doing what he did. I mentioned earlier that the movie did feel cluttered to me at times, and a lot of that is because this story takes time to examine Snowden from every angle of the spectrum. Stone shows us his human side at home with his girlfriend Lindsay, as well as shows us the genius behind one of the world’s strongest computer minds, presenting them both equally with great detail and patience. He weaves a needle that spins its way inside and out of the psyche of a man tasked with such important information, and then watches it play out like a ticking time-bomb.  To people who read my “CitizenFour” review from 2014, you know how highly I thought of that film, and while I do appreciate the informative look at the scandal itself here, I feel that the documentary is a film that will leave you with a deeper impact. For Stone’s movie, we adore what little we don’t know about Edward, and what follows gives us a look into that side we don’t see.

This was the part of the movie where things could’ve used another edit or two. Simply put, there’s too much bulk to this story that doesn’t always need to be left in. Because of that, I had great issues with the pacing of this film. It’s probably the single greatest negative that I had for an otherwise compelling screenplay. Movies with great pacing often entail an array of emotional response to always keep you guessing for what comes next. For “Snowden”, we pretty much stay on one volume throughout the movie, and that’s a shame because the acting is certainly there to push this to another emotional level. With this mum style of attitude and tone for the movie, the audience never gets the chance to rise in triumph or perish in disappointment. It’s all played pretty low to the ground, and could’ve used a spark to get us through a dull second act that often times felt very repetitive.

On some of the technical aspects, we see that Stone has grown visually and orally as a master film maker. The editing is crisp, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the subtle metaphors just below the surface are a nice touch in contrast to some of the antagonists in the movie that felt a little over the top. On the latter, nothing is ever played to the point of anything more than a minor annoyance, but a scene involving Joseph Gordon-Levitt talking to a massive screen that shows Rhys Ifans hunching over the camera, mirrors big brother in George Orwell’s “1984”, and that is something that should only be seen once in a generation. The musical score was certainly gripping though. Composer Craig Armstrong offers soft, melancholic tones that communicate in song the kind of troubles and terrors that have already been right on the doorstep of this great country. There were several scenes in the movie where Armstrong chilled me to goose-bumps with something hand in hand with the scene playing out before us. Great scores never overstep their boundaries, and Armstrong rivals that of Trent Reznor, Junkie XL, and Hans Zimmer as some of my favorite composers working in film today.

As for the performances, there’s plenty of praise to be offered in such a big name cast. Gordon-Levitt magnetizes as the title character. His voice patterns are frightfully in-sync with the way his real life counterpart sounds, and this young man transformed before my very eyes into the man that I have watched and studied for a few years now. Shailene Woodley was also memorable as the love interest of Snowden, Lindsay Mills. As Lindsay, Shailene tiptoes a thin line of patient girlfriend and feminist contemporary, and it’s nice to see Woodley being offered these big time roles. The chemistry between her and Snowden might not seem that authentic, but when you put yourself in the shoes of the main male protagonist, you start to see that his world is a ball of nerves that is ready to tumble as any minute. This relationship feels natural because (Sad or not) it is the face of modern romanticism in 2016. In addition to these two, there are also praiseworthy turns from Timothy Olyphant, Zachary Quinto, and a surprise A-lister who I’m hoping people haven’t seen too much from the trailer to spoil this interesting cameo.

“Snowden” isn’t quite as haunting or harrowing as its 2014 documentary counterpart, but the movie does a more than capable job of telling three different Snowden periods at once, with all of them being as insightful as the others. The film doesn’t have the smoothest transitions in the form of pacing or tempo within the movie’s creative level, but it overcomes these missteps by presenting a new side to the country that is always stood as the beacon of justice not only on film, but in real life. Oliver Stone once again pulls the wool from our eyes, presenting some thought-provoking dynamics to a gripping story.

7/10