Now it's a bit earlier to be doing this review. Because this movie's sequel (The Social Reckoning) is coming in October but since I mostly do horror films during that month, it'd be best to review this now. So enough of the BS let's get to it.
The Social Network is a biographical drama based on the 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. Production was done by Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Scott Rudin Productions, Michael De Luca Productions and Trigger Street Productions with Sony Pictures Releasing acting as distributor. David Fincher directed while Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay.
The story is, back in 2003, Mark Zuckerberg gets dumped by his girlfriend. He then gets drunk and angrily insults her on LiveJournal. He continues his drunken antics by making a website that ranks female college students by attractiveness but he had to hack into the college's website to get the photos. At first this is just a stupid idea that gets him in loads of trouble, but soon it'll be Zuckerberg's first step into creating Facebook. However this journey will cost Zuckerberg many relationships and friends.
- Negatives
I've got nothing.
- Mix
I continue to have nothing. So just move to the next part.
- Positives
One positive is the pacing. The movie is two hours long and despite the heavy driven dialogue and lawsuit drama the movie didn't feel like two hours at all. This was pretty much a breeze to get through.
Speaking of dialogue I gotta give props to Aaron Sorkin. All of the dialogue is very engaging. It doesn't matter if the characters are talking about computer coding, building a website, intellectual property disputes, or maybe just personal drama, Sorkin made it fun. And there's also some pretty funny quotes to. Like there was this one scene where Divya and the Winklevoss twins are talking about Zuckerberg and the conversation goes...
Cameron Winklevoss: What, do you want to hire an IP lawyer and sue him?
Divya Narendra: No, I want to hire the Sopranos to beat the shit out of him with a hammer!
Tyler Winklevoss: We don't even have to do that.
Cameron Winklevoss: That's right.
Tyler Winklevoss: We can do that ourselves. I'm 6'5", 220, and there's two of me.
Then we have the story itself. This isn't treated as a big humongous success story filled with happiness and cheers. Instead this is a story about ambition, friendship, loyalty, jealousy, a desire for recognition, and the cost of building one's own empire. While the origin of Facebook is still there and driving the story, this is primarily about how Mark Zuckerberg stepped over people to get to be the guy who's solely credited as being the creator of Facebook. Because of that we see how his actions hurt people and how they didn't take it lightly. Hell, Zuckerberg's story doesn't by any means get a happy ending. So even though we all love a success story, it's also good to watch stories like this because they can serve as a cautionary tale.
Now it's time for me to praise the performances. Starting with Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg. I remember when this came out back in 2010 and I remember folks praising his performance as being slightly ruthless. And admittedly I joked about it like "Really? The dorky guy from Adventureland & Zombieland is ruthless? Yeah right." But now I'd like to criticize 2010 me for being so ignorant. Because Eisenberg is incredible. It was fascinating to watch him play someone who's more socially tone-deaf and ruthlessly career focused than what he's usually type casted as. Then we have a pre-Spider-Man/known named Andrew Garfield also kill it. He was great at playing a loyal friend but he was incredible when his character [Eduardo Saverin] felt betrayed and wants everything returned to him. Even Justin Timberlake is great in this. He was just as charismatic and fun to watch perform as Eisenberg & Garfield were.
The last thing I'll is David Fincher's directing. I've loved Fincher work since I watched a TV airing of Fight Club many years ago and since then I just can't get enough of the guy's work. Fincher is phenomenal and his work on this film is no different. The guy took a movie about website coding and made it a gripping drama. Not to mention but Fincher does an amazing job showing Zuckerberg's disconnect from others by using dim lighting, distant framing, and muted color palette. Even college dorms are treated more like calculated labs than something cozy. Which works because Fincher understood this is as I said before a cautionary tale about ambition and not a feel good story.
The Social Network definitely earns its praise as one of our modern masterpieces. Who would've thought a story about Facebook could be so compelling. Hopefully The Social Reckoning will be too when it comes out next month.
My final rating is, A Must Watch!
That's gonna do it for me. Come back on Saturday, Sept 5th, for my review of the newest Ryan Reynolds' movie, Mayday. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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