Starring:Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl.
Director: Bill Condon.
Rating/Volume: 5.9 (1,400)
My rating: WATCH
Source: Cineworld Cinemas (in 2D)
Well, well, well. What a character Julian Assange is. Holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy, London he has made it quite clear what he thinks of this film.
After Benedict Cumberbatch personally wrote to him to request a meeting he replied to the star advising him to steer clear of this "wretched film". Even going to the trouble of listing all the main (supposed) inaccuracies of the film on his website wikileaks.com. I thinks it's fair to say he won't be showing up at his local cineworld in a hurry to catch it. Well, even if he could without being, y'know, arrested and shipped abroad in a prison boat.
We all knew this film was going to cause some controversy if not from Assange then from the Guardian, the USA or Julian's loyal band of freedom protesters. Mainly because its an issue that still is in ongoing debate and a historical event that is still in the making. While you can decide for yourself whether you think the film is accurate or not, you will definitely agree that The Fifth Estate present a well made version of the story.
A quick intro to the film, The Fifth Estate is a drama based on the true story of the infamous whistle blower and founder of wikileaks.com, Julian Assange. The film, by Dream Girls director Bill Condon, follows Daniel Berg (Daniel Brühl), an underutilised computer coder, as he meets Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Together they build Wikileaks from a struggling website into a political force to be reckoned with.
I had recently seen Rush (#186) in the cinema about a week before I saw The Fifth Estate. I really liked the film (review coming very soon) but I thought one of the best things in it was Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda. After seeing it, he made a lasting impression on me. I knew we'd be seeing him again in big things. It was a complete surprise when I realised he's also the lead in The Fifth Estate. I'd realised that Benedict Cumberbatch was in it because, well, you can't miss him! He is a hot hollywood property right now and . Since the amazing success of the fantastic Sherlock tv show critics and fans alike seem to be watching his every move. He is involved in six major feature films this year alone; not to mention the highly anticipated series 3 of Sherlock due in new year. But this film is proof that he has no signs of slowing down in what I think is his best performance to date. With talent like this it's obvious that my favourite aspect of the film was definitely the cast. This is a great performance by Brühl. His portrayal of the silent brains of the organisation is great (although supposedly exaggerated) and definitely cements his place in upcoming Hollywood stardom. That being said, Cumberbatch is truly the runaway star of this film with a performance that was so realistic and accurate it even unnerved people who knew the real Julian well. His performance showed genuine emotion and skill and really showed me the kind of man that the filmmakers wanted me to see. They did such a good job that they really made the film. I personally hope he at least gets nominated at the Oscars for his effort. Plus, I personally love Stanley Tucci so whenever i see him in a film it makes me smile that little bit more. Overall a well cast film and I'd recommend it on that basis alone.
I did have some problems with the film. I found that I came out of the cinema seriously lost in the message of the film. In the last hour or so I found myself almost giving up and found myself much more concerned about the relationship between the two characters than I was about the story of information freedom and governmental accountability. I sort of just gave up. I think it didn't help that there was a large amount of computer technicalities that I just didn't really understand or relate to. Now I know what you're thinking, how can I criticize a film about a website for having too much about computers? However, I look at films like The Social Network (one of my all time favourite films) and realise that it made computer science entertaining and dynamic; The Fifth Estate didn't. It had me straining to keep up. I did enjoy the real life metaphors of a computer network that took place in an imaginary office full of desks and I found it very effective at helping to explain the point. But I felt that in the end it did too little. Could the film have benefitted from a more dynamic director? I don't know. I actually like a lot of the direction. It had me excited and listening all through the feature and the acting couldn't be faulted. So for me it had the potential to be amazing, but was simply lacking the spark to carry this through to become one of the great digital dramas of this new era.
In conclusion, despite the disappointing critic reviews, this film is definitely one to see before it leaves cinemas. Cumberbatch and Brühl are ones to watch in the future as I think their names are only going to get bigger and bigger.
Now, I'm going to ask you to go and watch it yourself. It's currently in cinemas everywhere in 2D. Feel free to send me a message at reviewthe250@gmail.com with any comments and your own views and opinions and don't forget to leave a comment down below.
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Thanks for reading!
William
Next: Rush (#186)
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