The early word on The Fifth Estate is out and Bill Condon’s thriller about the rise of WikiLeaks with Benedict Cumberbatch as the whistleblower website’s mastermind Julian Assange has sparked comparisons to The Social Network—though, depending on whom you ask, they’re not entirely pleasing ones.
E! News runs down what the critics are saying—and debating—about the movie, which hits theaters on Friday, Oct. 18.
• “The film that The Fifth Estate most resembles is The Social Network. The parallels are clear: a social outcast exorcising demons via technology; the vicious betrayal of a business partner; the swift transformation of news into drama. But The Fifth Estate doesn’t have the same sharp focus or insight,” writes TimeOut London.
