By Kyle Osborne
Sometimes I wonder if our feelings about a movie are influenced by whether the characters within are “good” or “bad” or “unlikeable.”
Take, for instance, ‘Captain Phillips,’ a just “okay” movie about a “good man” and played, of course, by the beloved Tom Hanks. Are the overly-generous reviews a product of the character’s valiant struggle against the pirates who have held him hostage? Or, let’s invert things a bit: The movie ‘The Fifth Estate’ is a good movie about a not so likeable character. Are the many negative reviews the result of watching an egotistical bastard with a terrible bedside manner for two hours? I suspect a connection.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Wiki-Leaks founder Julian Assange in what seems to be a truthful performance that depicts the brilliant hacker as a driven man, once loyal to a noble idea, but whose inflated sense of himself ultimately led to his demise. The performance is detailed, and the director, Bill Condon, presents us with close-ups that leave the actor nowhere to hide. It truly is a remarkable rendering.
The story is told from the point of view of Assange’s sidekick-protégé-partner Daniel Domscheit-Berg, played here with workman-like gusto by German actor Daniel Brühl. It’s no secret that these two had a major falling out, indeed, Assange recently wrote an open letter to Cumberbatch, who had requested an audience with the exiled Assange, refusing to meet—in part because of Assange’s vigorous objection to Daniel Domscheit-Berg’s book, upon which the screenplay was based. That seems like a fair enough objection, but is it also a kind of admission Cialis from Assange that he did, in fact, lose his way? You can read the actual letter here: http://www.entertainmentordie.com/2013/10/read-the-letter-julian-assange-sent-to-actor-benedict-cumberbatch-about-thefifthestate-movie-about-wiki-leaks/
So, the movie may not be the ultimate biographical source (no film ever is) but it works as an entertaining “Wiki-Leaks for Dummies,” taking us on a whirlwind tour of the origins and ‘greatest hits’ of the secret sharing website. One complaint from me is that the film is a mile wide and an inch deep. It zings from one exposed case of corruption to another, never stopping to give us more than a cursory glance at some of the life-changing events that occurred, thanks to Assange’s philosophy of printing government and corporate secrets while devoutly protecting the identity of his sources, and redacting the names of the “innocent” within the leaked documents. Until the moment he didn’t.
That said, the movie is really more about giving us a glimpse inside the mind of the man, rather than serving as a documentary about the site’s notable results. It doesn’t portray him as a saint, and it doesn’t portray him as someone who didn’t strive, at least initially, to adhere to his own code of ethics.
The two films are nothing alike, but I enjoyed my time with the less than charming Assange heaps more than I did my time with the upright Captain Phillips. The film is slick, works as a kind of European spy-flick and, as noted, gives us a chance to marvel at the talents of one Benedict Cumberbatch.
‘The Fifth Estate’ is rated “R.” It gets THREE our of FOUR STARS