'Snowden' is a fawning piece of work
Oliver Stone鈥檚 鈥淪nowden鈥� has his usual directorial gusto going for it 鈥撀爒isually, if not in almost every other way, it鈥檚 not boring 鈥� but it鈥檚 a聽fawning piece of work. It鈥檚 about Edward Snowden and what led him聽to expose the U.S. government鈥檚 secret, warrent-less surveillance of聽its citizens聽in聽2013聽after he served as a computer analyst in the CIA and National Security Agency as a聽self-described patriot. In unloosing these secrets and exposing covert聽operations, Snowden still believes he is being a patriot, but Stone is too smitten聽to offer up any counterarguments. Had Stone done so, he would have聽strengthened his own argument; the way he鈥檚 done it, the entire enterprise聽seems rigged. The aura of sainthood thickens the atmosphere.
As Snowden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a straightforward聽performance that is almost semi-documentary in its matter-of-factness.聽There鈥檚 not much dimensionality to him because Stone and his co-screenwriter, Kieran Fitzgerald, haven鈥檛 conceived of him as a fully聽dimensional human being. They make a big deal about his long-term聽relationship with his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley), as if聽this would humanize him for us, but he remains blandly opaque聽throughout.
Laura Poitras鈥檚 Oscar-winning 2014 Snowden documentary 鈥淐itizenfour鈥澛爄s, almost inevitably, a stronger experience. That, too, was a species of聽political thriller but, unlike Stone鈥檚 film, it鈥檚 actually thrilling. Grade:聽C+ (Rated R for language and some sexuality/nudity.)
