Verax (2013)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
This five-minute short from Hong Kong (by four directors) is the first film to take on the subject of Anthony Snowden. The film pretty much shows American and Hong Kong officials reacting to what Snowden released on YouTube. I'm really not sure what this short was trying to do as it certainly doesn't educate you on its subject. If you just watched this film without knowing who Snowden was then you'd be absolutely lost as to who he is and why there's a movie about him. With that said, there are some good moments here that make it worth sitting through. One great moment happens with the opening title credits, which makes you feel as if you're getting ready to view some epic movie and to be honest, these credits are actually a lot better than the ones you see from Hollywood. Another excellent thing in the film are the shots of Hong Kong from a variety of angels. There are some terrific shots here that certainly make you want to visit the city and this here alone makes the film worth sitting through. I'm going to give the filmmakers credit as I'm sure not too much money was spent on this production and I do wonder if they just wanted to get anything out there on the subject. With that said, they did end up with the first film on Snowden so that's something to be proud of. Still, there are some major issues with this film and that includes pretty much all of the performances, which are just downright wooden and not for a second do you believe you're watching real agents. This here also takes you out of any sort of drama that the film might have been going for. It also doesn't help that the dialogue is downright poor and you really wouldn't expect it to be coming from educated government people. Still, VERAX is just five-minutes and there's enough in it to make it worth viewing and with a professional group of actors and a screenwriter, it seems the directors would have the talent to make an interesting picture.