“The Fifth Estate”
Directed by Bill Condon
Walt Disney Studios
2.5
The thing about being groundbreaking is it’s hard to break new ground when the ground you’re standing on has already been demolished, especially if it was done three years earlier by a very good Mark Zuckerberg impersonation.
Such is the case with “The Fifth Estate,” a film that so clearly attempts to recreate the success of “The Social Network” that a dubbed version of itself substituting each character’s name for those involved in Facebook’s creation would likely make for a surprising level of historical accuracy.
From day one, “The Fifth Estate” rooted its marketed interest value in its personification of Julian Assange, founder and heavily criticized frontman of WikiLeaks, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. The payoff is predictably successful: From Assange’s roots as a lonely computer hacker to his gradual rise to worldwide infamy as a man of free speech, Cumberbatch gives one of the best performances of his career, or at least one of the most original.
With acting credits that already include “Sherlock Holmes,” a culturally famous “Star Trek Into Darkness” villain and the voice of the computer-generated Middle-earth dragon, Cumberbatch adds a role that was practically perfect for him. The personality of Assange, the easily identifiable bleach-blonde Australian with the pompous personality (as portrayed in the film, at least), lets Cumberbatch play off all his acting strengths by varying theatricality with control of the situation.
Literally speaking, the entirety of “The Fifth Estate” hinges on Cumberbatch’s charisma – enough to make it watchable, an achievement in itself. But some of the film’s other elements are able to keep up to some extent. Daniel Brühl’s role as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, Assange’s right-hand man throughout most of the story, is also well portrayed, evoking emotional anguish as Assange is visibly corrupted by the extended attention their overzealous ideas have gotten both of them.
Their roles are the first of many easy “The Social Network” comparisons to make. Assange takes on the Zuckerberg character, self-contained and brilliantly assured of his talents, while Domscheit-Berg performs an Eduardo Saverin character, fighting the more likable side of the war between frenemies. “The Fifth Estate” follows the same formula, but without remotely the same dexterity.
That isn’t to say the story is particularly poor, just not vaguely able to keep up the pace. As Assange and Domscheit-Berg engage deeper and deeper into their pet project, defying all risks and warnings to turn it into a worldwide base for what they consider to be common human rights, the messages are clear.
Assange is presented as a savior, albeit an unlikable savior by the end of it all – a man who encourages and inspires openness, who is willing to tear down the world’s looming surveillance and punishment systems to let the people speak the truth.
The film isn’t the most direct comparison to Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook, but it’s an easy one to make. Both are breakthroughs in human interaction through the Internet – though one is a bit more critical of authority, with the (intended) villains outside the corporation rather than within. One would assume then that the film with a greater enemy could serve as a more thrilling, gripping story of willpower to succeed, but that isn’t nearly the case.
Director Bill Condon fills his story with melodrama, capturing the passion both computer masterminds have in their quiet time together, and the trouble it gets Domscheit-Berg in with his girlfriend. Succumbed to the weight of overzealous, historically questionable detailing, Condon doesn’t find the right balance between action and drama, or action and biopic, or action and anything, really.
With “The Social Network,” director David Fincher managed to create a suspenseful, enthralling account of a college student’s bank account gradually growing larger in a gradually growing office building. Condon’s “The Fifth Estate” depicts the discovery of government corruption through the publication of footage from a military helicopter killing innocent civilians, and yet only finds the direction to suspend itself into disappointment.