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Fifth Estate, The (15)

Biography, Drama

A dramatic thriller based on real events that 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 critical consensus

It‘s a well-made and entertaining conspiracy thriller but remains a disappointingly superficial treatment of material that promised much more.

***(*)(*)Allan Hunter, The List, 16/09/2013

With a riveting portrayal by Cumberbatch at its heart, The Fifth Estate tells its story grippingly - but finally leaves us none the wiser.

****(*)Philip Kemp, Total Film, 07/10/2013

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.

**(*)(*)(*)Adam Smith, Empire Online, 07/10/2013

Benedict Cumberbatch aces Assange – but the WikiLeaks chief goes unchallenged in an otherwise watchable film.

***(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 10/10/2013

It’s watchable...How could it not be when – in a true story far more incredible than fiction – the fate of democracy hangs on the whim and will of a young Antipodean whose powers of geeky conquest reformulate forever the word “technocrat”.

***(*)(*)Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, 10/10/2013

If you want to know more about Wikileaks and today’s information war the picture is an excellent starting point. As engaging human drama, however, it falls short.

***(*)(*)Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express, 09/10/2013

It's a moot point whether the film really offers an accurate or fair portrayal of Assange, but what it does underline is that the man who set up an obscure website in 2006 is now one of the most famous media figures in the world.

***(*)(*)Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent, 10/10/2013

Rise and fall of a computer nerd.

***(*)(*)Brian Viner, Daily Mail, 11/10/2013

The result is a sadly superficial treatment of a subject that promised more.

***(*)(*)Allan Hunter, Daily Express, 11/10/2013

In the end we're left with an enjoyable but rather empty ride; easy on the eye, kinetic in construction, but undone by indecision about its still unfolding history.

***(*)(*)Mark Kermode, The Observer, 13/10/2013

The film perks when there’s an opportunity to animate computing into cinematic whooshes of activity, but its drama remains a go-slow plod of exposition speed bumps, obvious psychological profiling and brief oblique references to Assange’s dubious way with women.

**(*)(*)(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 14/10/2013

Cumberbatch does his thing but this is abject nonsense.

Sophie Monks Kaufman, Little White Lies, 11/10/2013


Features about Fifth Estate, The (15)

Julian Assange refused to meet Benedict Cumberbatch, email reveals

BBC, 10/10/2013

'You should reconsider your involvement in this enterprise': Julian Assange refused to meet Benedict Cumberbatch

Sam Masters, The Independent, 09/10/2013

Benedict Cumberbatch says Julian Assange's letter affected his portrayal

The Guardian, 12/10/2013

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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