The Fifth Estate

Name: The Fifth Estate
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller, Documentary
Released: October 18, 2013
Duration: 128 min
Rating: 49
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Benedict Cumberbatch, Carice van Houten, Dan Stevens, Daniel Brühl

2013

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 74 Ratings

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6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 74 Ratings

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The Fifth Estate

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Movie Details & Credits

Touchstone Pictures | Release Date: October 18, 2013 | R

Starring: Alicia Vikander, Benedict Cumberbatch, Carice van Houten, Dan Stevens, Daniel Brühl, Moritz Bleibtreu, Peter Capaldi

Summary: Triggering our age of high-stakes secrecy, explosive news leaks and the trafficking of classified information, WikiLeaks forever changed the game. Now, in a dramatic thriller based on real events, The Fifth Estate reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st centuryâ

Director: Bill Condon and R.J. Cutler

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Thriller, Documentary

Rating: R

Runtime: 128 min

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Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman

Oct 16, 2013

The Fifth Estate is flawed (it grips the brain but not the heart), yet it feverishly exposes the tenor of whistle-blowing in the brave new world, with the Internet as a billboard for anyone out to spill secrets. Call it the anti-social network. Read full review

Mark Jenkins

Oct 18, 2013

As The Fifth Estate excitedly illustrates, in the Internet age no one can ever really have the last word. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

Oct 17, 2013

Instead of delving into the moral questions WikiLeaks asks by its very existence, Condon gives those a passing nod in a couple of weak subplots. Read full review

IndieWire Eric Kohn

Sep 15, 2013

An uneven, intermittently thoughtful but largely preachy overview of WikiLeaks' rising influence that has less of an issue determining Assange's character than it does with telling a compelling story. Read full review

Ann Hornaday

Oct 17, 2013

As a piece of filmed entertainment, The Fifth Estate shows why things like authorial point of view and visual sensibility are so essential in bringing such stories to life. Unlike its most obvious predecessor, “The Social Network,” this film doesn’t have much of either, and the weakness shows. Read full review

Connie Ogle

Oct 17, 2013

Assange is a compelling figure that merited a better effort. Read full review

Kyle Smith

Oct 17, 2013

Hire “Dreamgirls” director Bill Condon to tell the story of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks? Sure, and next let’s hear from Lady Gaga on the Higgs boson particle. Read full review

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User Reviews

Masterspeed

Apr 2, 2022

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I love this movie and the movie is good and there is a doctor strange in the movie yeah i love this movie… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Annthisway

Jan 13, 2014

Very good movie, i like it. Very good acting, it's very underrated. The trurth is power & Wikileaks is power. Really nice movie. Telling the truth. I like it very so much..

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

miccael

Oct 13, 2018

It was not too bad movie, but I wanted to see more drama with arrest and less build up/set up. Pacing was slow too. Benedict did good job nonetheless.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Mike_M

Oct 18, 2013

Without a strong overall opinion for or against WikiLeaks or Assange, and without much knowledge of the situation, I went into this film open to it as a piece of filmmaking and not as a fact-checker. As a film, it's quite mediocre. The worst part, in fact the single part I could point toWithout a strong overall opinion for or against WikiLeaks or Assange, and without much knowledge of the situation, I went into this film open to it as a piece of filmmaking and not as a fact-checker. As a film, it's quite mediocre. The worst part, in fact the single part I could point to in suggesting that you all stay away in droves is this: The film visually depicts some sort of virtual office space that Assange and Berg inhabit in parts of the movie dealing with some of their online interactions. It's something so hokey in 2013 that I'm more or less in disbelief that the director tried it.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Thegodfatherson

Oct 19, 2013

The Fifth Estate does get a boost from a pretty stellar supporting cast, including Laura Linney, Stanley Tucci and Anthony Mackie all playing top U.S. State Dept. and White House officials; Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten and Run Lola Run star Moritz Bleibtreu as fellow WikiLeaksThe Fifth Estate does get a boost from a pretty stellar supporting cast, including Laura Linney, Stanley Tucci and Anthony Mackie all playing top U.S. State Dept. and White House officials; Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten and Run Lola Run star Moritz Bleibtreu as fellow WikiLeaks employees; and David Thewlis (Harry Potter) and Peter Capaldi (In the Loop) as top editors at big-name newspapers. With a cast that strong, Condon manages to spread the focus around without the viewer necessarily noticing (or complaining about) the very real real fact that things are being spread wide, because there is little depth to offer when it comes to the central two players: Berg and Assange. In the end, The Fifth Estate is best suited as exploratory viewing for anyone looking to get a crash-course overview on what all the WikiLeaks fuss was about. Then again, it would probably be faster to just look it up on Wikipedia. Go figure.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Sep 7, 2017

A real and relevant theme in the world today, although dramatized more in order to make its plot work. The Fifth Estate could have been a more dynamic work if its director had stopped a little to give a more elegant and slow development to the subject.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Kadeemluvmusic

Oct 20, 2013

I don't know why you wanna call this a WikiLeak movie, unfortunately for The Fifth Estate, it's not gonna get any Oscars for this mess. Benedict Cumberbatch should've even be playing a hacking founder of WikiLeaks and said "The got his back." Unfortunately for him, this will be the onlyI don't know why you wanna call this a WikiLeak movie, unfortunately for The Fifth Estate, it's not gonna get any Oscars for this mess. Benedict Cumberbatch should've even be playing a hacking founder of WikiLeaks and said "The got his back." Unfortunately for him, this will be the only movie you should not see. It's a bomb, for real. One of the worst movies of 2013 so far.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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