I don't regularly review movies. But this thing deserved some special attention. I love nonfiction, social commentary, and documentary. And this one caught my attention, so I watched it. I'm not sure if this is a spoiler, but be warned; they insisted on ten lines of copy. I obliged.
What started out as a film which would look like an interesting documentary about whistle blowers exposing government misdeeds (and admittedly could be technically classified as such) quickly digressed into a well funded, shameless promotion for more military equipping and funding which in fact is at an absurdly high level already considering the fact that "the machine has come home" and is now aimed at the same civilian public that this costly war has blindly impoverished and imprisoned.
Perhaps the only redeeming quality as a documentary was that in the opening titles it does actually mention several legit whistle blowers whose stories, all be them well known, are indeed well worth looking into. So have a notepad handy for later research if you are going to check it out. On the other hand I felt that the footage of Edward Snowden was only used in an attempt to lend legitimacy to this obvious military industrial propaganda, and I doubt it had his blessing or permission. I sincerely feel he's being exploited here.
The film has elevated production values, excellent music which tugs the emotional strings, crafty editing, and a clever narrative and slick post work. For a about a fourth of the movie, I was taken in, and then I was like: "wait a minute here, is this all it's all about? new toys for soldiers?" well that's fine, but at least give it a title to match, guys. One positive note: An unintended effect of the film may be: the audience should realize that the folks who create war are in the business of killing soldiers. Reducing the population on all sides.