"The Fifth Estate" is out in theaters, and critics are praising Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as Julian Assange, WikiLeaks creator.
However, Cumberbatch is about the only thing reviewers liked about the movie. With a 39 percent fresh rating, "The Fifth Estate" is certified rotten by RottonTomatoes.com users.
Check out what the critics had to say about the film below.
The New York Daily News' give the "Bradley Manning" film two stars:
"Shocking details of his life are divulged through awkward exposition. Major events become mere footnotes. His universal impact - the title refers to the rise of citizen journalism - is reduced to heavy-handed pronouncements. (He's a 'messiah ... with feet of clay,' the instigator of 'a new information revolution.')
"Meanwhile, the movie repeatedly disregards its first-rate supporting cast. And why do we waste time on empty scenes of symbolism, or Daniel's dull romance, when we barely even hear about Private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, Assange's most important source?"
How RottonTomatoes.com users rated the movie:
"Benedict Cumberbatch nails Julian Assange and looks and talks so much like the real thing that you often forget he isn't. It's a brilliant piece of work. The movie is not," Gary Wolcott said, Tri-City Herald.
"I really want to see the movie that Cumberbatch thought he was in because his performance has so many interesting aspects it couldn't possibly be for what amounts to a nearly paint by numbers thriller," Matthew Razak said, Flixist.com.
FOX News' takeaway about the film:
"'The Fifth Estate' unfolds like an experiment, throwing significant events from Assange's life, as well as his WikiLeaks partner Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl), against a wall to see what sticks. Quite a bit doesn't stick and instead churns until the script finds solid footing for brief stretches. One subplot that doesn't work as well as it could inserts Laura Linney and Stanley Tucci as State Department's Sarah Shaw and James Boswell awkwardly depicting the fallout from Wikileaks as they scramble to remove their embedded source from a potential Mideast hot zone. It's odd because for a brief moment, "The Fifth Estate" sophomorically becomes an espionage thriller, clashing with the techno-drama surrounding it.
"What does stick -- and is actually riveting -- is the last third of the film which covers Bradley Manning's leak of hundreds of thousand classified documents and cables and how that affects not only foreign affairs, but more specifically, journalism. This is where Condon finds his footing -- albeit a little late - as chaos erupts in the media, the U.S. government and within Assange's inner circle. The publication of The Afghan War Logs is where the drama finally becomes interesting as Daniel and Julian ultimately come to a head, thus beginning the fall of their operation."
Not convinced by the reviews that the film isn't worth a trip to the theater? Check out the trailer below.
