Story of a rise to infamy

Rating: 6/10 (22 February 2019)

This story about one of the most important whistleblower cases in American history is filmed in grand settings to match the scale of the revelations.
It's a film about great courage but fails on suspense with the revelations. It's a story about get risk but fails to be provoking. Credit mostly goes to Gordon-Levitt's performance which is well observed and restrained. But there was some serious miscasting too: Nicolas Cage as a CIA IT teacher and Rhys Ifans, unconvincing as a CIA mentor.
Some sequences felt misplaced, such as the 90s film style training exercises. A viewer can suspend their belief in a character amidst great disagreements in the real world, but push it too far and they begin to question what was left out. "Snowden" might have pushed too far on the brainiac narrative and hagiography whilst attempting to appeal to a maximum breadth of audience.