By Travis Johnson
It’s been a long time since we had a good Oliver Stone film. He went from being the guy who wrote Scarface and directed Platoon to the guy who made the Mexican drug war boring in Savages. Still, we live in hope – Stone at his best is a blisteringly talented filmmaker, and hopefully Snowden has all the right ingredients to make him knuckle down and grind out a great film once more.
Lord knows it’s a great match on paper: Oliver Stone directing Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a biopic of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden – that should be a home run. The excellent supporting cast helps too: Melissa Leo, Scott Eastwood, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Shailene Woodley, Timothy Olyphhant, Rhys Ifans and Nicolas Cage all crop up. The subject matter is deeply fascinating, and if Stone brings even half the energy of his early works, this should be eminently watchable – and also likely to angry up the blood of more politicised viewers.
Snowden hits Australian cinemas on September 22.
