The Fifth Estate | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

36% Tomatometer 179 Reviews 36% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and a colleague, Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl), join forces to become watchdogs over actions of the privileged and powerful. Despite scant resources, they are able to create a platform for whistle-blowers to leak covert data anonymously, thereby exposing government secrets and corporate crimes. However, a major battle erupts when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest cache of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history.

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The Fifth Estate

The Fifth Estate

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Critics Consensus

Heavy on detail and melodrama but missing the spark from its remarkable real-life inspiration, The Fifth Estate mostly serves as a middling showcase for Benedict Cumberbatch's remarkable talent.

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The Fifth Estate | Rotten Tomatoes (1) J. Hoberman ARTINFO.com Given its own aggressive attention deficit disorder, The Fifth Estate is the sort of movie that might induce a migraine. Feb 22, 2019 Full Review The Fifth Estate | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Deborah Ross The Spectator Those in the know say Cumberbatch's performance captures the physical Assange perfectly, but the film fails to get a handle on him as a personality, or offer any kind of insight into what his true motivation might be. Sep 5, 2018 Full Review The Fifth Estate | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Louis Black Austin Chronicle Tthe film finally falls short, an explosive beginning leading to a pedestrian end. Rated: 2.5/5 Oct 25, 2013 Full Review The Fifth Estate | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Richard Crouse Richard Crouse A rather ham fisted look at the information wars, which contains some drama but takes too long to get to the good stuff. Rated: 2.5/5 Jan 31, 2021 Full Review The Fifth Estate | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com It is less involving when we're forced to sit through ancillary storylines and conflicts that do little to advance the story. Rated: 2.5/4.0 Sep 7, 2020 Full Review The Fifth Estate | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Allen Almachar The MacGuffin Very few films this year have registered such a lack of an emotional reaction. Rated: C- Jul 23, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (586) audience reviews

William T I enjoy the soundtrack and the performance of Daniel Brühl is excellent and i am in love of Alicia Vikander. Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/17/24 Full Review Audience Member A propaganada piece which paints Julian Assange, who is a true hero, as a villain....sad that Benedict Cumberbitch agreed to do this movie Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 07/04/24 Full Review Blu B It's such a mess. This is a lot of things but the biggest thing is this is, it's a wasted opportunity. Everything is bogged down by subpar execution and a unfocused script. This should've just focused on the major leak that led to the escalation of the info war with the U.S.A. not all the backstory on the organization, Daniel, and barely getting any backstory on Julian who sometimes is the main focus and sometimes isn't. That the other thing I can't tell you if Daniel, Julian, or the Info War plot is the main focus as it feels terribly unfocused. Before the major leak it shows all the results of multiple other leaks and it feels terribly jumpy and doesn't flow well at all. It feels like just random events and makes this feel very convuluted. The cinematography is shot lifelessly, pointless shaky cam, obnoxious camera angles every now and than, all over the place different styles, weird abstract scenes, and sometimes the scenes are so convuluted you don't even know what's happening. This does get better in the second half though and the best part is the inital leak and receiving of the papers which actually was well done and came very close to something out of the Bourne movies. Than it starts bouncing around again and loses focus but not as bad as first. The music isn't good either alternating from boring and generic to out of place international pop numbers. They never help build tension or suspense at all. This can't decide if it wants to be a biopic about Julian or a political thriller and never full develops either. Finally, Cumberbatch isn't good in this as Julian and comes across as wooden, stilted, and not kind of whiny at times. We never get any backstory on him really either despite this trying to be a biopic about him and his rise. This needed to really start and focus squarely on the leak simliar to something like a combo of All the President's Men and a Bourne movie hybrid and drop all the unfocused backstory and abstract stuff to simplify the plot and make Julian less wooden and stilted. Skip This and read the book instead. What a missed opportunity. Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review The Lego S Ok movie, Benedict Cumberbatch was a great Julian Assange, very dramatic. Good ending but just too dramatic. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/08/23 Full Review steve d Not even the acting is passable in this mess of a biopic. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review kevin c Based on true events, this film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange who created WikiLeaks and how the site became a huge problem for the US government as well as many nations worldwide. Daniel Bruhl costars as his colleague/employee. Fascinating story which plays like a spy movie almost with some tense and suspenseful scenes. Really compelling storytelling. Quite enjoyed this one. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

Bill Condon Director Benedict Cumberbatch Julian Assange Daniel Brühl Daniel Domscheit-Berg Dan Stevens Ian Katz Alicia Vikander Anke Carice van Houten Birgitta Jonsdottir
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Synopsis WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and a colleague, Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl), join forces to become watchdogs over actions of the privileged and powerful. Despite scant resources, they are able to create a platform for whistle-blowers to leak covert data anonymously, thereby exposing government secrets and corporate crimes. However, a major battle erupts when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest cache of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history.

Director
Bill Condon

Producer
Steve Golin, Michael Sugar

Screenwriter
Josh Singer

Distributor
DreamWorks SKG

Production Co
Anonymous Content

Rating
R (Some Violence|Language)

Genre
Drama, Mystery & Thriller

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 18, 2013, Wide

Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 23, 2015

Box Office (Gross USA)
$3.3M

Runtime
2h 8m

Sound Mix
Datasat, SDDS, Dolby Digital
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The Fifth Estate | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

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