What is Snowden about?
CIA employee Edward Snowden leaks thousands of classified documents to the press.
Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)
It leaves things open rather than tying them up.
A determined man exposes government secrets, igniting a tense, gritty thriller with global consequences.
Suspenseful and earnest. A full-attention watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is heavy. Based on true events.
Streaming on Netflix, Starz, Kanopy (free) and Tubi (free).
Snowden parents guide
No surprises for an R: moderate sex and nudity, and some violence.
- Scare
- Not scary
- Jump scares
- None noted
- Gore
- No gore
- Violence
- Some violence
- Some fighting or peril.
- Sex and nudity
- Moderate
- Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.
- Language
- Moderate
- Some strong profanity, a few f-words.
How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.
Three questions
- Is Snowden scary?
- No. Snowden is not a scary watch.
- How gory is Snowden?
- No gore and some violence. Squeamish viewers are fine here.
- What is Snowden rated, and is it OK for kids?
- It is an R, with moderate sex and nudity, and some strong language. Keep it for adults.
Cast and crew
Directed byOliver Stone
StarringJoseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Scott Eastwood
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Snowden is on our True crime, Thriller on Netflix, Crime on Netflix, Starz and Thriller on Starz lists.
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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.