The Fifth Estate Review
RYAN: This is a new biopic starring Benedict Cumberbatch who’s having a very good year. In this he plays Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. And while this movie has a good director and cast, it was one of the most painful movies to sit through; especially off the heels of great movies recently like Gravity and Captain Phillips.
CHUCK: I completely agree with you. I like going into a movie and trying to find something positive and there are some lights here but I was hoping to like this movie and I’m sadly disappointed.
RYAN: It’s confusing and I normally have no problem with complicated stories. Movies can be smart and reach over your head but still clue you in and update you. You have to be able to piece it together and follow it. This movie has problems. We’re not stupid but the script is so convoluted that it’s very confusing. Even the people attending my movie club agreed.
CHUCK: Oh it’s true. I remember the big scandal that happened with WikiLeaks in 2009 but they tried to tackle too much history in this movie. They went back to the beginning when they should have just handled the controversy.
RYAN: And the movie features this weird metaphor for the office they’re working out of and it never makes any sense. Even by the end when it becomes obvious it’s a metaphor it’s stupid and poorly executed.
CHUCK: Absolutely.
RYAN: And there is a lot of text on screen: instant messaging, subtitles, country locators, and the like, but it’s too varied and incohesive. Then there were music montages with Star Wars types of transitions – very strange. All of this from Bill Condon, the man who directed Dreamgirls,and he knows how to work with music in film but didn’t prove it here. Why was the score so awkward?
CHUCK: It was very poor. This director should stick with what he’s good at and go back to musicals and vampires.
RYAN: It’s also two hours and 10 minutes long but feels like seven hours. That there is the kiss of death to any movie.
CHUCK: Gone with the Wind feels shorter and that’s one of the longest movies ever.
RYAN: Totally. It’s long but brilliant and watchable. This movie just dragged on and is so boring and I wanted to just take a nap in it. I was almost dozing.
CHUCK: Um, did we mention yet that it dragged?
RYAN: [laughs] The cast is good but the only interesting scenes were with Laura Linney and Stanley Tucci.
CHUCK: They are brilliant and can elevate anything.
RYAN: And after being a big bore for three-quarters of the film, suddenly, it gets all Argo on us for, like, twenty minutes and then gets confusing and boring again. I thought it was taking a good turn but it’s really just fifteen or twenty minutes… couldn’t save the movie.
CHUCK: I agree. It could have ended there on a high note, but no.
RYAN: It’s a boring waste of time. Go see Gravity a second time before seeing The Fifth Estate.
