Blu-ray Review - The Fifth Estate

The Fifth Estate
Director: Bill Condon
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl, Stanley Tucci, Laura Linney
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures/Touchstone Home Entertainment
Release Date: January 28th, 2014
Retail: $39.99
Running Time: 128 minutes
Rating: R

Review:

Arriving on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 is the true story about the WikiLeaks scandal, titled The Fifth Estate, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the WikiLeaks' rebel leader. Co-starring in this high-tech thriller is Daniel Bruhl, Stanley Tucci and Laura Linney. Bonus Features include The Submission Platform - Enter the room where the secrets are kept and see it come to life, from first inspiration, through filming and beyond; In-Camera Graphics - Watch electronic words move off the screen and into the real world; Scoring Secrets - Experience the full range of musical styles in composer Carter Burwell's thrilling soundscape for the movie; and Trailers and TV Spots.

I'm almost positive everyone has heard about the WikiLeaks scandal on the news in 2010, which the topic is still discussed today in newspapers, magazines and blogs. Since then, there have been several books published on it and there has been one Hollywood feature film The 5th Estate was quietly released to theaters last October. The film is based on two books, Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World's Most Dangerous Website by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy by David Leigh and Luke Harding.

I only saw the movie advertise on television a couple of times and the only the thing that looked remotely interesting about it was the fact Benedict Cumberbatch from Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek Into Darkness was starring it as the WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange. I had completely forgotten about the film until I had a chance to review an early copy of the Blu-ray Combo Pack.


For those who don't know what WikiLeaks is, it is an international website that releases classified information that wasn't meant to be seen by the public. The Fifth Estate focuses on the Afghan War Logs - the 75,000 (I think this is the right number!) documents WikiLeaks posted about the Afghanistan war and other countries, resulting in a media furry, as well as causing many American diplomats to leave their offices.

The film flashes back to the beginning days of the website, when Julian Assange first meets journalist Daniel Domscheit-Berg, which the two work together on exposing what they think is corrupt in society.

The Fifth Estate, running at just over two hours, struggles to find its identity, while at times the cinematography may feel like the next Bourne film, the overall plot is relativity boring. Benedict Cumberbatch does give a great convincing performance as Assange, the rest of the cast is bland at best, which isn't their fault, it's just the way the script was written. There are a few interesting features on the Blu-ray, well, they're more interesting than the actual movie. The WikiLeaks scandal could have made a great movie, but sadly The Fifth Estate failed at every attempt.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.