Last week I was able to go see The Fifth Estate, a new film by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -Part 1 and 2). The film is certainly different than Twilight, (I have to admit I am a huge Twilight nerd…Team Jacob!) detailing the life of WikiLeaks and its creator Julian Assange.
Assange, an activist and journalist played by Benedict Cumberbatch, created the site, that publishes anonymous news leaks and classified information, in 2006. The movie begins with newspapers about to leak the information that got WikiLeaks serious press – the release of over one million sensitive and classified documents. We then travel back in time to 2006 when the website first began, and make our way to this pivotal moment again.
Going into the film, I knew little about WikiLeaks or Assange. What I had heard when I mentioned to my friends that I would be seeing it was that Benedict Cumberbatch was all I needed even if the movie turned out terrible. My friends explained just how attractive and perfect he was, and I’ll admit I was excited.
The physical comparison between Assange and Cumberbatch was dead on. While Cumberbatch did show the creepy almost uncomfortable presence of Assange well, I was not running home and telling everyone I knew about how gorgeous he looked (Note: My friends tell me that if you want to see Cumberbatch in his prime, watch Sherlock. You won’t be disappointed).
Assange’s one time business partner Daniel Domscheit-Berg is played by Daniel Bruhl. The two work to uncover secrets and let WikiLeaks users give information without being at risk. Assange and Domscheit-Berg‘s strange and tense relationship progression is shown over the course of the film. Is Assange really letting Domscheit-Berg in? Are they truly a team, or is Assange only in it for himself? Along with Cumberbatch, Bruhl attempts to let us inside the minds behind WikiLeaks and the drama that it caused. There did not seem to be enough ways for the audience to be “let in” and I felt that I missed a lot of the emotions these two were trying to convey.
The Fifth Estate, as “cyberthriller”, did not have as much thrill as I had hoped for. The graphics were very cool, featuring a visualization of what WikiLeaks would look like if it were to be a physical office or organization instead of only online. A lot of the dialogue and content meant to be thrilling was less than so, and I found myself feeling that the movie was dragging after the first hour (The run time is 2 hours and 8 minutes).
The lackluster love story was uninspiring and almost unnecessary. Domscheit-Berg leaves and comes back to his girlfriend more times than I wanted to see, and although it did show how controlling Assange was over him, in the end I found myself wishing for more information on the leads instead of their side interactions.
The Fifth Estate attempted to show the journey taken to reveal corruption and secrecy within our own country. The reality that as citizens we may not have all of the information was made extremely clear, but the best route to get that message across may not have been taken. The film felt dry and forced, instead of intriguing. The story of WikiLeaks was interesting and I enjoyed learning about everything that happened since its creation, but I felt that the passion was not all there.