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.
It‘s a well-made and entertaining conspiracy thriller but remains a disappointingly superficial treatment of material that promised much more.
With a riveting portrayal by Cumberbatch at its heart, The Fifth Estate tells its story grippingly - but finally leaves us none the wiser.
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.
Benedict Cumberbatch aces Assange – but the WikiLeaks chief goes unchallenged in an otherwise watchable film.
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”.
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.
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.
Rise and fall of a computer nerd.
The result is a sadly superficial treatment of a subject that promised more.
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.
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.
Cumberbatch does his thing but this is abject nonsense.
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General release. Check local listings for show times.