The story of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange is among one of the most fascinating stories of all time. It changed the way every single person looks at media as well as the spread of information and turned the whole world flat on its face. That's why it's so incredibly disappointing to see a film with great actors and a story as fascinating as the one of WikiLeaks that somehow still manages to be what is perhaps the dullest film of the year. The Fifth Estate drags on for so long and is so tedious that I started to question if this story is as fascinating as I thought it was. Fortunately...I googled the story minutes after the final credits rolled and my faith in the story was restored.
The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks and Daniel Bruhl as Daniel Berg, a man who played a vital role in the success of the website. These are two terrific actors playing very interesting people and still managing to come across as wooden. I'm not blaming Cumberbatch or Bruhl. These two actors might just be incapable of giving a bad performance and they're both fantastic here. It's just that the screenplay by Josh Singer (who has only worked on quality television such as "The West Wing" and "Fringe" prior to this film) is so intent on constantly reminding the audience that Assange was a weirdo and that Berg helped lay so much of the foundation that the audience never gets anything beyond that. There is a subplot involving Laura Linney, Stanley Tucci and Anthony Mackie as defense politicians who are desperately trying to stop WikiLeaks but that story goes nowhere. The film is so one sided in its argument against WikiLeaks that it never explores the story with any depth or grace.
Another problem I had with the film is that none of the characters are ones anyone can get even remotely attached to. In one way or another...these are all completely reprehensible people and there's no way to root for anyone. I know that perhaps this is the point but it's detrimental to a film that's already really bad to have characters who aren't even connectable through hate. In other words...by the end of the film, I didn't feel any emotions for a single character.
The Fifth Estate is definite proof that great acting can't save a lousy screenplay and stale direction. There is an interview at the end of the film with the real Assange. This is a major flaw by director Bill Condon to include this part in the film because it makes the audience realize that a five minute interview with Assange himself is significantly more interesting than anything in his film.
(1 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language and some violence)
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