~*Krissys Bookshelf Reviews*~

 

The NSA's illegal surveillance techniques are leaked to the public by one of the agency's employees, Edward Snowden, in the form of thousands of classified documents distributed to the press.

                                                    

 

          

I think I was expecting more anticipation or excitement or .. something. I was bummed after I was so looking forward to JGL's performance and wound up so disappointed by the fact that both he and the rest of the movie was completely muted and down played. 

Even the position of the government and their over reach into the depths of people's private lives is almost a side note. Its there, but most of the film is from Snowden and the other programmers positions - as if the institution doing all the invasion of privacy tactics is non existent and not involved.

I had higher expectations for a person who was man hunt number one... showing the actual hunting not just an angle on Snowden's personal paranoia would have added another level to the movie. 

It felt as if I was watching the entire thing through a filter and I was missing half the story, missing the emotion of the cast all except for Melissa Leo who played Snowden's girlfriend, and missing the one thing that would have made this a serious thriller impact film. 

Its good but it definitely needed to be amped up to make it worth my while.