Mr. Movie review: ‘Snowden’ has great acting from ensemble cast

Snowden is the rare movie that needed to be made. Though it slants slightly left politically, writer/director Oliver Stone does an even-handed job telling Edward Snowden’s story.

Stone paints Snowden as a patriot who often expresses love for flag and country. That’s one area where it slants left and is something those leaning to the right might dispute.

Most of you are familiar with Snowden’s story. In his work for the CIA and the National Security Agency, he was privy to top-level spy stuff. But the blatant misuse of power and technology by the America’s super spies bugged the guy to the point that he could take it no more. So in May 2013, Snowden took classified documents from the NSA and spilled the beans about the agency’s spying on the American people and people across the world.

Not surprisingly, Snowden was indicted for espionage and theft of government property. He fled to Russia, where he has been given temporary asylum.

Oh, and Snowden is a love story too.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the troubled computer expert. As he is in every movie, Levitt gets major mileage out of not talking much. The camera loves him, and fans perceive him as brilliant, even though he’s often not acting but is the camera’s subject.

Observing all he witnesses in a 9-year span drives the somewhat reclusive Snowden even more inward. This characterization of Snowden plays perfectly into Levitt’s acting style.

Gorden-Levitt is also surrounded with a great supporting cast. Shailene Woodley (the Divergent series) is Snowden’s girlfriend Lisa Mills. And like her co-star, she excels at looking great while doing very little.

Rhys Ifans (Alice Through the Looking Glass) plays this year’s best supporting work as Snowden’s mentor Corbin O’Brian. He growls his lines and offers half finished sentences as hooks that intrigue Snowden and move him deeper into the government’s spy system.

This is Stone’s first major film since 2010’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. With good material, Stone has always proved to be an excellent filmmaker. Snowden is long, but it is not slow. It is — typical of Stone — a bit heavy-handed.

This story was originally published September 15, 2016 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie review: ‘Snowden’ has great acting from ensemble cast."