The Fifth Estate (2013)
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 15
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 3
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User Ratings: 6,444
Movie Info
Triggering our age of high-stakes secrecy, explosive news leaks and the trafficking of classified information, WikiLeaks forever changed the game. Now, in a dramatic thriller based on real events, "The Fifth Estate" reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century's most fiercely debated organization. The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel
Oct 18, 2013 Wide
Walt Disney Pictures
- Official Site
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The Fifth Estate Trailer & Photos
All Critics (23) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (15)
Feverishly edgy and exciting.
Top CriticFor a film that reminds use over and over that this is a whole new world, this movie feels awfully familiar.
Both the kindest and most damning thing you can say about "The Fifth Estate" is that it primarily hobbles itself by trying to cram in more context-needy material than any single drama should have to bear.
Benedict Cumberbatch's Julian Assange is the highlight of a sometimes ordinary-feeling film.
Disappointingly dull account of a tale desperately in need of a sharper screenplay and some directorial vim. Might as well wait for the Blu-ray, Jules.
The only true take-away from the frantic, two-dimensional The Fifth Estate is that Julian Assange isn't championing moral justice as much as brand building and the inconvenience of accountability in the internet age.
Will hold infinitely more interest for those already intrigued by Assange's activities than those trying to learn more about WikiLeaks and its origins.
It's a well-made and entertaining conspiracy thriller but remains a disappointingly superficial treatment of material that promised much more.
Cumberbatch as the awkward Australian Assange performs a masterclass in mimicry. It's a shame, then, that the performance is let down by some clumsy storytelling that trots out all the usual clichés.
Slick and superficially entertaining, doesn't have much news to impart.
This efficient but uninspired work doesn't provide any more insight into the issue than a television docudrama would.
All the President's Men from Deep Throat's perspective.
The Fifth Estate rarely offers great insight into Assange or the world that spawned Wikileaks, but its acceptance of that fact makes it easier to accept as well-acted entertainment that compels you to seek out the real story.
...The Fifth Estate focuses on what is ultimately a petty personal feud, while mostly missing the revolution that's still happening keystroke by keystroke on computer screens around the world.
The Fifth Estate proves little more than a showcase for the acting talents of a supreme mime in the form of the lanky Cumberbatch.
Takes an exceedingly complicated story- the Wiki-Leaks saga- and boils it down into a compact two hour movie that's consistently entertaining and easy-to-follow.
Watching people do stuff with computers isn't just as boring as watching paint dry, it's a lot more irritating.
This is highly competent catnip for the watercooler crowd.
It's the quality of asking questions and providing no black and white answers that makes The Fifth Estate, in spite of its bluster and bravado, worth watching.
The character work seems perfunctory, whether it's the mediocre exploration of Assange and Domscheit-Berg's dynamic or the shallow investigation into Assange's past to hint at what drew him to be so antiauthoritarian.
Audience Reviews for The Fifth Estate
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Foreign Titles
- Inside WikiLeaks - Die fünfte Gewalt (DE)
- The Fifth Estate (UK)
