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Snowden (2016)
Oliver Stone's latest film tells the real life story of Edward Snowden, a man who leaked secret government files and let the world know that the NSA was watching them.
It makes me sad to see how hit or miss Oliver Stone's films can be now a days. He used to be one of the greats, and is still considered one by many people. So is this a return to fame, or is this another Alexander or Savages, lets find out.
So to start, without a doubt the best thing about this movie is the Joseph Gordon Levitt. I don't think they could have found a more spot on actor to play this man. And this is easily the best performance that he has ever given, he looks almost exactly like him, and his voice work is phenomenal, listen to Snowden on interviews, it's actually almost impossible to tell the two apart. This is one of the best performances in a Stone film, I hold it up with Tom Cruise in Born of the Fourth of July and Michael Douglas in Wall Street.
The rest of the actors are fine, they all do their part well enough, but then they're held next to Levitt's performance witch kind of makes them seem less impressive.
The writing in this film is pretty decent, it takes some stuff that could come off to some as pretty complicated, and makes it, I don't want to say simple because it's not simple at all, just less complicated. And I don't think it stomps on peoples opinions, it doesn't exactly say that what Snowden did was right or wrong, it shows you the evidence and lets you form your own opinion.
The films most glaring issues are sadly with Oliver Stone's direction, there are multiple moments throughout the film where the pacing was a glaring issue, I feel like they spent to much time on some subjects and not enough on others, and at many points it really shows and I felt the film suffer for it.
I also think that the tone of the movie was kind of off. This movie should have been focused on realism like Platoon or Born of the Fourth of July, but I feel like Stone was trying to make a Paul Greengrasse film at times. He focuses to much on making it like a movie and not like a real life story.
Overall, I think the film is passable, despite of the glaring problems with the directing and pacing, I feel the film does what Snowden did justice, and still lets you form your own opinion. But I would recommend this film almost solely for Joseph Gordon Levitt's powerhouse performance, I'm not joking, this is some Oscar worthy stuff, and as of now, he would have my vote for best actor. But in the end, I think I would still just suggest watching the Citizenfour documentary.
Snowden (2016)
Oliver Stone's latest film tells the real life story of Edward Snowden, a man who leaked secret government files and let the world know that the NSA was watching them.
It makes me sad to see how hit or miss Oliver Stone's films can be now a days. He used to be one of the greats, and is still considered one by many people. So is this a return to fame, or is this another Alexander or Savages, lets find out.
So to start, without a doubt the best thing about this movie is the Joseph Gordon Levitt. I don't think they could have found a more spot on actor to play this man. And this is easily the best performance that he has ever given, he looks almost exactly like him, and his voice work is phenomenal, listen to Snowden on interviews, it's actually almost impossible to tell the two apart. This is one of the best performances in a Stone film, I hold it up with Tom Cruise in Born of the Fourth of July and Michael Douglas in Wall Street.
The rest of the actors are fine, they all do their part well enough, but then they're held next to Levitt's performance witch kind of makes them seem less impressive.
The writing in this film is pretty decent, it takes some stuff that could come off to some as pretty complicated, and makes it, I don't want to say simple because it's not simple at all, just less complicated. And I don't think it stomps on peoples opinions, it doesn't exactly say that what Snowden did was right or wrong, it shows you the evidence and lets you form your own opinion.
The films most glaring issues are sadly with Oliver Stone's direction, there are multiple moments throughout the film where the pacing was a glaring issue, I feel like they spent to much time on some subjects and not enough on others, and at many points it really shows and I felt the film suffer for it.
I also think that the tone of the movie was kind of off. This movie should have been focused on realism like Platoon or Born of the Fourth of July, but I feel like Stone was trying to make a Paul Greengrasse film at times. He focuses to much on making it like a movie and not like a real life story.
Overall, I think the film is passable, despite of the glaring problems with the directing and pacing, I feel the film does what Snowden did justice, and still lets you form your own opinion. But I would recommend this film almost solely for Joseph Gordon Levitt's powerhouse performance, I'm not joking, this is some Oscar worthy stuff, and as of now, he would have my vote for best actor. But in the end, I think I would still just suggest watching the Citizenfour documentary.