MOVIE REVIEW - The 5th Estate

This could be one of the worst movies of the year.   If not, it will certainly be on many 10 worst lists. And absolutely on the list of the least interesting.

The 5th Estate is a bio-pic of Wikileaks creator, Julian Assange and his website that was a new way of delivering news to the world. Wikileaks of course is the site that leaks all kinds of information on the web all over the world, while having double and triple and beyond ways of protecting the human whistle-blowers.  This sight has, over the past decade or so been at the center of many huge scandals, from toppling governments, to corruption, to the gigantic U.S. military secrets leak of 2009, which was the largest in history.  This is the story of  Assange and this group, and how they do it, and how it all come to be.

Sure, the way you view politics may play into how you feel about Assange and his website.   You may be thinking he is a revolutionary and a hero.  Or you may be thinking he is reckless, dangerous, hates The West, and has little regard for any agenda but his own.  The motive behind Assange and how you feel about his mission is up to you.  And for the few who go to see this movie, there is bound to be some emotive chat over coffee at movies end.  Nothing wrong with that.

Problem is, putting the politics aside, this doesn't have one single compelling scene. This is two hours and ten minutes of Assange talking on the cell phone, or texting, or instant messaging.  There are even a few scenes of him setting up a laptop, and plenty of him carrying it around in a back pack.   IM-ing partners across the table, all the while spewing dialogue that becomes insanely mundane.   Sound like an embellished account?  It may be, but it's not too far off.   I have seen reviews stating this is "thrilling" and "exciting".   Holy cow, these people needs lives.  Seriously what movie were they watching?  Responsible reviewers need to put their emotions away for 2 plus hours and watch this as a movie. Watch it honestly, and if this is really compelling to you as a movie fan, you're the easiest person on Earth to entertain. 

This is so immensely uninteresting you may have a tough time staying awake.  Oh, and by the way, the interest was low, this brought in 1.7 million dollars opening weekend.   10 times less then the Carrie remake also opening over the weekend.  Slightly above Runner, Runner , 2 weeks old and one of the worst reviewed movies of the year.  Oh, yeah another movie about the internet.

There is not any part of this movie that is worth waiting for.   You don't like any of the main characters, not because of what they represent on screen or not.  But in their incredibly thin development.  This movie just has a bunch of actors spewing lines on screen, taking this no where slowly.   There just is not enough story here for a feature length movie that is entertaining. Maybe a documentary on PBS, but not here. 

They keep making movies about web pioneers and websites, and they all are really not interesting. From The Social Network, to Jobs, to this.    The Social Network was heralded a the time, but as time goes on we are learning that too is very forgettable.   This is far worse.  Truth is, maybe making movies about computer geeks, just isn't good cinema. 

The 5th Estate.   Really, really bad.  Might be horrible.