Snowden: Collector’s Edition 4K UHD

10 reviews for Snowden: Collector’s Edition 4K UHD

1. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   Mr. Anderson – September 5, 2025

   3.0 out of 5 stars

   Decent Movie Portrayal Of Snowden At Best

   Initially, I was a bit torn on my opinions about Edward Snowden. I don’t think the movie was an absolute actual portrayal of what had happened. But it was a decent picture. About the mass surveillance in my opinion? After 09/11, I think the public whether you lean to the right or left wanted security a bit more than freedom. I definitely prefer a balance of the two, but high ranking government officials which include the executive office of the POTUS and other government entities will ultimately choose what is best for this country regardless of how much liberty most people crave for regardless of what is written into the Constitution. I’m a realist and know that this will always be closer to fact until whatever type of miracle happens and we learn to coexist and live peacefully among each other. But that will most likely not happen in the near future.About the mass surveillance, it’s unfortunate that many Americans are targeted by the government’s mass surveillance tactics due to the “connect the dots” communications apps/programs implemented by many agencies. It’s unfortunate that innocent people are constantly either directly or indirectly linked with other possibly targeted individuals or suspects looked upon for possible corruptive or disruptive things against my country (the USA), or even other 1st world countries throughout the world just because there was some type of link. In my opinion, mass surveillance is a problem when it is not managed ethically – provided that any human being actually understands true ethics and integrity. Especially from analysts from either the NSA or CIA or whatever agencies when they can monitor people through laptop cameras or smart phone devices without anyone realizing that. Who should they target? Of course, target primary suspects! But when you want to keep monitoring naked women and watching people engage in sensual activities through cameras when those individuals are innocent. Especially when those government employees are having a good time monitoring that and forgetting their mission, there’s no integrity in that kind of work! High ranking and powerful influential individuals and officials in charge of those programs know that! Top ranked government officials most certainly would not want those surveillance tactics and practices monitoring their behind the scenes activities if it were possible. But then again, that’s another discussion. I know for an absolute fact that high ranking individuals/officials in this country such as: President Donald Trump and his family and known associates, the Clintons, as well as high ranking members of the CIA, NSA, SS, and other gov’t organizations are definitely exempted from those surveillance methods. In addition, I’m certain their families and close friends are also exempted from monitoring unlike most Americans in which their rights are most likely encroached upon without even knowing it. Again, if the surveillance program is to target criminals and people that have a high opinion or want to do harm against countries like the USA and other 1st world countries. Focus those cyber resources on criminal activities in order to maintain security. That’s common sense! Gathering all American’s phone numbers just because you can do it is not efficient. And on those specific areas, I most certainly agree with Edward Snowden. On the other hand, he did compromise national security. But I would want him to face possible charges from another entity other than federal officials and beaurocrats. Their hands are most likely very dirty as well. Overall, in my opinion, we have to place the right type of people to be in charge of those surveillance programs. Which is again, a very extremely and ugly convoluted topic.In my other opinion about the PRISM program that Edward Snowden revealed to the world? Just because the US government through the Obama administration said that they shut down the program was completely absolute hogwash. The surveillance was definitely was still active and has been active to date despite the president saying that it had been shut down. It’s impossible to shut something down that high which has been going on since the Bush administration. Again, when a messenger states they have done something like that. It is often a pacified statement to make the public feel good. I heard that the Trump administration has officially fired the same surveillance program back up. Not that it was ever shut down. Again, I would not exactly call Edward Snowden a hero, but I don’t consider him a criminal either – it’s difficult. In my opinion, a whole lot of high ranking officials also need to toe the line with Snowden on charges as well.As for top secret security clearances, it’s all mostly hogwash. As history has already stated like in this movie, a lot of people with top secret security clearances are often the same individuals who reveal classified information to the public, write books, and/or sell their stories to make a fortune after their secretive work. On the other hand, I know a friend who was dedicated while he was doing government work and had to wait for TWO MONTH’s to get a basic security clearance! And he was way more trusted than some of these glorified individuals who tote around with top secret security clearances.The one good thing about this Edward Snowden movie is that we all have to look into the mirror. And that definitely includes any high ranking individuals within top government whether they are in the Executive Department, the NSA, the CIA, CSS, FBI or wherever (i.e.,..Five Eyes..etc.) that think that they are above regular normal US Citizens and any other citizens throughout the world. Again, I believe in a balance of freedom and security. The main question is where do we draw that line.

   3 people found this helpful
2. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Andowan – September 5, 2025

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   LIke Snowden or Hate Him, this is a must see.

   This film about Snowden really causes you to think about his side and why he exposed so much information. I’m not a fan of what he did. What makes his action of exposing the government better than what the government was doing when he signed an agreement to keep things secret? Both are equally wrong. Yet, he exposed what the NSA has been hiding from the American people and the world. What a paradox! Has the government stopped? Doubt it. Think of how quickly they stop potential attacks, and how quickly they find people. That sounds like a fairly deep, on-going, database.

   One person found this helpful
3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Amazon Customer – September 5, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Reveiw of the Movie “Snowden” by Arthur J. Clemens Jr.

   I purchased the movie “Snowden” through Amazon.com, and the movie was delivered in a timely and professional manner.As a published author who has a book for sale on Amazon.com, entitled “Revelations of the Great Spirit”, I am honored that Amazon has requested that I review the movie “Snowden”, particularly since my book was published in May of 2012 prior to the time that the Snowden revelations were first made public by the press in May of 2013, and many of the claims about the federal bureaucracy made by me in my book, as a person who had a top secret clearance in Vietnam, were confirmed by his revelations.The details of his life, as accurately depicted in the movie by award winning Producer Oliver Stone, himself a Vietnam Veteran, are fascinating, particularly when he aced a computer programming test that usually took hours to complete in 38 minutes, leaving his bosses astounded and flabbergasted. And this in spite of the fact that he never completed high school. The influence of his girlfriend in raising his social consciousness is well depicted and deeply moving.I was not surprised by his revelations as a highly competent professional computer expert who worked for and with the CIA, the NSA, and other government agencies that the US government pretty much has the entire world bugged, to include everyone’s phone, and all the emails in the world, to include the emails and phone conversations of foreign leaders, and this includes many of our allies. It is no surprise that President Trump, and Senator Rand Paul have lately claimed that the federal bureaucracy had tapped their phones, and I would not be surprised if every elected government official in the entire United States currently has their phones tapped and their emails monitored by our bureaucracy, since the bureaucracy is the real power of our government, and their goal is for our elected officials to be puppets on their string, much as their hero J. Edgar Hoover had all the politicians on his string as described in the book “Puppetmaster, the Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover”, also for sale on Amazon.com.Take for example the case of the impeachment, removal from office, prosecution and conviction of the sitting Governor of the State of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, who was not convicted of stealing one single penny of government funds, but instead convicted entirely on the basis of recorded wiretaps played selectively, of offering the job of former Senator Obama’s Senate seat to those who might give him political support in his next campaign. In the meantime, the federal bureaucracy is stealing trillions of dollars from the taxpayers, and nobody is ever accused of any improprieties at the federal level, not even Dick Cheney, who is probably the most corrupt politician in the history of America. Blagojevich’s prosecution and conviction sent a clear message that elected officials are mere putty in the hands of our tyrannical federal bureaucracy.Many, including myself consider Edward Snowden to be one of the great heroes in the history of the United States. His patriotism cannot be questioned, since he volunteered for hazardous training and duty in the military, but suffered medical problems which led to his discharge. His is often compared to Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press during the Vietnam and Nixon era, and has conducted joint press conferences with him, which can be viewed on YouTube.And what is his reward for being a great patriot? He has been forced to flee his country to avoid prosecution. Many in our government have called him a criminal and want his head on a plate. But the people of the world continue to admire him. Some ordinary people in New York put up a statue of him in a park, but the government tore it down. Other statutes and busts have been erected. He was given an award in Norway but he could not receive it in person since he had to worry about being extradited to the United States.Finally, there is of course the controversy over whether the Russians influenced the 2016 election, but somehow, Snowden’s name never comes up when in reality, he is the controversy, since Putin has given him asylum, and as long as he stays in Russia, Putin is the real champion of human rights, and the almost unlimited power of the US federal bureaucracy is limited to some degree as a result. So the media, Obama, and other politicians do a lot of Putin and Russia bashing, while nobody remembers that Obama caved in to the US Federal Bureaucracy and AT&T by changing his position on telecom immunity right after he got the democratic nomination in 2008, so that he would be In Like Flynn on all the wiretapping and surveillance that took place during his tenure.

   19 people found this helpful
4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   GRAEME B SIMPSON – September 5, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Snowden a brilliant movie. Worth the 5 stars !

   Exceptional acting and a brilliant movie. Worth the 5 stars by many viewers.Snowden will always be seen as a traitor by many and doing wrong for his whistle blowing.The code of truth, justice and morality in actions of officials has been ignored by all levels of security by many governments in democratic countries including the intelligence world within the United States!It is not exempt of corruption! It is a fact that history does repeat itself and the famous statement that ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ has merit.Snowden and other whistle blowers rarely have carried out such actions for personal wealth or seen as corrupt within their code etc! It is a point in time when politicians believe they are always right and make incredible excuses for their corrupt behavior and ignore the constitutional rights of the people. The reality is there is no moral code of justice amongst politicians, where high leveled security is concerned. Security decision making, to give orders at all levels of security eventually they will cross ethical boundaries and ignore levels of morality and what is legal, for what they believe is defending the country! Often turn on the “people within” as a threat at some point in time to their country, when security organizations are meant to protect the people within a country.It would be very naive to think the Russian and Chinese Governments do not already know much intelligence about the US, spying they would have no need to even talk to the likes of Snowden. They would learn nothing new! The cold war continues and that information gathering, it becomes an institutional and unstoppable machine at speed gathering intelligence beyond comprehension.I am a realist, the US has more information on me and many others, so much they know your actions, likes, and dislikes better than you know yourself, as the information gathering continues with intelligent algorithms at work!

   One person found this helpful
5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Julie B. – September 5, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   This movie is Worth your time to Watch!!!

   One of the best movies I’ve seen in ages…. This guy is a hero and we owe him thanks! I hope Trump will pardon him. If you haven’t seen this, it is a valuable and great use of your time to do so!

   3 people found this helpful
6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mysticman9 – September 5, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   chilling, startling, and a sobering dose of reality

   Snowden is a near-perfect film capturing the intense inner struggles of an idealistic patriot who, because of his adherence to his own principles which are based on integrity, and therefore an expectancy of his country’s adherence to its own Constitutional laws, caused this young man to do the unthinkable…expose the very corruption he was charged with seeking out in the world. Instead, its his own Government, which he formerly defended through his naivety, and by the end of his Government career, can no longer stomach its too-numerous-too-count abuses to our civil liberties. Too many people in similar situations might succumb to such injustices, due to job security, fear, or a delusional sense of patriotism, but Edward Snowden risked everything and was willing to give up everything, to make a powerful statement: that the American government should not be allowed to do absolutely whatever they want in spying on the entire world, and then completely lie about it. This takes balls, and Snowden has them. Most people would just carry on and feel lucky they got such a prestigious job. I can’t say I envy Snowden, Lord only knows what quality of life he has in Moscow, but I respect the man. I love my country, but dang, there is a dark, dark underbelly that most people can’t even fathom, and it’s films like this that are waking people up to the truth. Then, and only then, can we begin to have intelligent conversations about what is really going on, rather than the spoon-fed crap they serve to us on the “political entertainment” shows that the “news” has become. Well done Edward Snowden, and well done Oliver Stone for a brilliant script, and making a powerful film with perfectly cast actors.

   2 people found this helpful
7. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Alexander Ljubenkovic – September 5, 2025

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Slimy, Weak & Anal-Retentive Insubstantial or Shallow Character of Snowden Revealed

   Congratulations to Oliver Stone for picking the right kind of acting face for the dishonest and extremely immature character of a pathetic weakling that is the criminal Edward Snowden, now a dictator Putin’s bitch at the Russian court of Mongols in white skins.Snowden’s jejune and rather shabby democratic idealism fits perfectly the narrative of a poof and a narcissistic parvenu like 0bama and Snowden both are.Edward Snowden betrayed his oath to the nation and the service, and he stabbed in the back his own fledgling young family so he can prostitute himself in Moscow with his sterile Russian brides there, and like 0bama, present himself as a holier-than-thou victim and a whistle-blower against injustice. The movie portrays well the kind of slimy type filled with ulterior motives both in marriage and at work that Snowden is.It is a cautionary tale of rot and uninspiring corruption in Washington and in the higher circles of the intelligence agencies. Certainly, if they could miss a contracted deadbeat like Snowden being unreliable – our national security agencies (except for the more capable FBI) are in distress from poor management of human resources.Edward Snowden is an intellectually extremely primitive man, without realizing it, and his infantile cries for “justice” and “democratic right to privacy” (as well as his scoffing dismissal of unconcern over privacy due to an honest “have nothing to hide” approach of his wife’s) are just catchphrases of an immature weakling who always was a BORN LOSER. Snowden failed everywhere but only through luck and some moderate skills managed to get into a position of a thief of national security information, which he shared with the enemy.Snowden ought to face a trial and then the firing squad.

   3 people found this helpful
8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Red1Gem – September 5, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   A great movie that reveals a side of government we rarely hear about.

   This is a really good movie, and while it may not be exactly everything it gives great insight into the man, and personally I am so glad he is safe in Russia and that his girlfriend joined him. In my opinion he is not a bad man, but a brilliant young man that trusted his work/career would be for GOOD. He has my sympathy. No one warned him what could happen.
9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   seeker – September 5, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   “I am Snowden.”

   So what does one expect from a film like this? Certainly not a debate on the merits or dangers of what Snowden did. There are plenty of other outlets for that sort of thing. One hopes for insight into the characters’ motivations and clarification–a behind the scenes look–at what the character actually did. One of the things Stone does well as a filmmaker is explain complicated things in understandable and compelling ways. He honed that ability is his long documentary _The Untold History of the United States_ and some of that analytical acumen is on display here (though fortunately not with Oliver Stone himself providing a breathy, hypnotic voice over). If you didn’t really realize how or why the NSA was, in fact, reading your email, listening into your phone conversations, or watching your internet activity, this film will show you. For instance, say something that puts the word “bush” near any synonym of attack, as in “tomorrow I’ll be attacking the bushes–this garden needs to get done” and your private communications are being read and pondered (and everyone you know’s communications are being scanned then too) for possible subversive activity. Stone makes an incredibly complex and software-driven story comprehensible in terms of its human and political impact. He keeps the story moving and his sense of the “deep state’s” presence pulling the strings is pervasive, but subtle. After Platoon, Stone stopped giving us cardboard cut-out villains: Snowden’s CIA mentor here is ultimately frightening but he is also very human, with a genuine intelligence and a true concern for Snowden himself, though it has limits. And Nicholas Cage is absolutely wonderful as the iconoclastic programmer they’ve stuck in the basement because he’s too smart to get rid of and too non-conformist to trust with any real access. Rattling around his office, strewn with museum pieces of bygone “super computers” (“it now fits on a chip in your phone”), and pontificating on the rule of the “military congressional complex” through a haze of surely verboten cigarette smoke, Cage is at his absolute best. I only wish he’d been on the screen more. For his part, Levitt turns in a strong, if somewhat monochromatic, performance as Snowden–successfully changing his voice and tamping down his good looks and charisma to appear nerdy without falling into the trap of evoking nerd stereotypes.OK, so that’s my review of it as a movie; now as a politically conscious American: see this movie so you can begin to grasp the danger we are all in. Democracy is like a blown egg, held in the thick, hairy hand of the ape of permanent state power. Snowden acted to try to prevent that egg from being crushed–laws were changed because of what he blew the cover off of. But the battle isn’t over. Maybe it’s time we did more.

   8 people found this helpful
10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    CXR8393 – September 5, 2025

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Scary and Interesting: A Fantastic Film!!

    Let me start by saying that I am am an established Oliver Stone fan. I have seen and/or own nearly every film that Stone has worked on over the last 30+ years, starting with Platoon and including Scarface, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, Any Given Sunday (my favorite sports film of all time), W, and now Snowden. Stone has managed to write/direct films about people and topics that are otherwise extremely controversial and still give viewers a reason to sympathize with that person and/or their cause célèbre. After first watching Nixon several years ago, I actually began to feel sympathy for Richard Nixon and I didn’t think that Oliver Stone would be able to do that again until I watched Snowden…which I loved!Not only did Stone do an excellent job directing this film, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt also did a fantastic job playing such a controversial figure in recent American history. He made the character his own instead of trying to give a spot-on impression of Edward Snowden, even though…(*SPOILER ALERT*)…Snowden makes his impressive cameo at the end of the film. I very much like that this movie is somewhat different from Stone’s previous politically-related films in that it moves a bit more like a thriller rather than a typical drama such as Nixon or even Wall Street. Normally when I’m watching a film on my TV at home, I have my phone in my hand looking at Facebook or texting someone as I watch it; but with Snowden I didn’t want to look at my phone for fear of missing an important plot point. While I do understand that films often misrepresent historical events for dramatic effect, my own prior knowledge of Edward Snowden and having read on the subjects of illegal mass surveillance and cyber security, it leads me to believe that this film is not that far off from what actually occurred.This portrayal of Edward Snowden has actually made me sympathize with him and his fight against illegal mass surveillance. The hope he had when Obama was elected, only to be let down and become jaded by events and circumstances beyond his control really does help to put the viewer on his side and come to understand why he did what he did. Like many people, I continue to hold the belief that Edward Snowden stole classified information and should be prosecuted for that…but NOT for espionage or for being a traitor. In the film, Snowden (Gordon-Levitt) even states that he is willing to face prosecution as long as he is guaranteed a fair trial and won’t be held as a traitor of the United States…something which I fully agree with. Just because he stole classified documents does not make him a traitor to his country….thief yes, traitor NO. Edward Snowden is not like Aldrich Ames or Robert Hanssen who intentionally sold state secrets for money. After trying to make his superiors aware of the illegalities being perpetrated against the American people and people across the globe under the auspices of “fighting terrorism”, he could simply think of no other way to open the eyes of the public/media to what the NSA and other intelligence agencies were doing in the name of the U.S. government.I encourage anyone who is interested in the these subjects or anyone that just wants to watch a very well written, directed, and acted film to watch Snowden.

    5 people found this helpful