The thrilling first trailer for Snowden is here

A dangerous traitor or a hero of the people? Either way, most people have got a pretty strong opinion about Edward Snowden.

Three years ago, the computer programmer and CIA employee leaked classified NSA documents, exposing the full extent of the surveillance of the general public that had been going on without their consent - but, at the same time, allegedly putting American agents' lives in danger.

Now, inevitably, comes the film; called simply Snowden, directed by Oliver Stone, the first trailer has landed - and it looks like a bona fide thriller.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as the main man, with Shailene Woodley playing his girlfriend and Zachary Quinto as journalist Glenn Greenwald. Melissa Leo, Tom Wilkinson, Scott Eastwood, Logan Marshall-Green, Timothy Olyphant, Rhys Ifans and Nicolas Cage also star, the latter seemingly as an angry government official.

Meanwhile, the brilliant Craig Armstrong is on music duty, so this should have a soundtrack to remember.

Due to concerns over possible interference by the NSA, Stone shot the film outside the United States, saying, "We felt like we were at risk here. We didn’t know what the NSA might do, so we ended up in Munich, which was a beautiful experience."

He's also commented that, "It's a very strange thing to do [a story about] an American man, and not be able to finance this movie in America. And that's very disturbing, if you think about its implications on any subject that is not overtly pro-American. They say we have freedom of expression; but thought is financed, and thought is controlled, and the media is controlled. This country is very tight on that, and there’s no criticism allowed at a certain level. You can make movies about civil rights leaders who are dead, but it’s not easy to make one about a current man."

Meanwhile, the man himself has already commented on the trailer's release:

Take a look above and see what you think.

Snowden is in cinemas 16 September