For a certain Propaganda audience

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2017)

These type of recent true event propaganda 'questioning the government' based drama films have a very specific audience and won't be liked by most. It does require full attention to detail and most notable a certain interest in the subject matter. For those not very familiar with this news outlet upon the real story, may not be too interested. Having not been too familiar with the details of the actual story oneself, expectations weren't too high since I did not know much what to expect.
Snowden is a well crafted, directed and acted film. Joseph Gordon- Levitt is a star in his portrayal of Snowden as he makes the character more likable than he should be (which is a good thing). Shailene Woodley is also quite good in her role as Snowden's preposterous girlfriend.
The film isn't as gripping or suspenseful as it could have been but it is still quite intriguing and entertaining as a whole. Though this film may be considered quite a disappointment, in terms of box office success and critical acclaim. It very well felt like a blatant Oscar bait film and it received no love from the Acadamy.
The film was also a box office flop, only making $37 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, not too surprising considering this isn't a film which would do well in foreign markets, and since the reviews weren't that positive it was more than likely to flop. Another thing which hurt the film was it being rated R. They easily could have and should have toned it down for a PG-13 rating. With only one sex scene (which didn't show much) and a bit too many F-bombs, it wasn't as needed, which I think hurt it's box office. If the Social Network was able to get away with a PG-13 rating, Snowden should have been too. As being compared to the Social Network, Snowden isn't on that level, and is quite the disappointment. Though Snowden does make one think about real security in the end. Passable film but also forgettable.