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Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking website that would become known as Facebook, but is later sued by two brothers who claimed he stole their idea, and the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business. – IMDb.com
| Date | Jun 24, 2012 |
| Categories | Movies. |
| Tags | Biography, Drama, Facebook, Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, The Social Network. |
| Total views | 191 |
| Daily views | 1 |
About
Written By: Jacob Golba
Watch the trailer at the end of the review and don’t forget to let us know what you think!
When first subjected to the possibility of a Facebook movie, I rolled my eyes along with the rest of America and wondered: why? However, things started to look up when I heard that David Fincher (Fight Club), Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men), and rocker Trent Reznor were all attached to the project as director, writer, and composer respectively. My interest was immediately piqued.
Turns out, all the hype was deserved. The Social Network captures the viewer in its dark little world almost as quickly as it takes a new notification to capture one’s interest on the multi-billion dollar website that inspired this film.
One of the most remarkable aspects to this movie is the ambience and moodiness of each and every scene. Fincher uses darkness to his advantage as Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and pal/business partner Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) go about their college business taking exams, chasing girls, and being commissioned by the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence) to start up a new site called “Harvard Connection.” Oh, and the horror movie-esque cinematography is backed up by a score that sounds more at home in a German cyberpunk opus than a film about Facebook.
What sounds like a standard rags-to-riches tale set in the Information Age turns abruptly into a Shakespearean-like tale of betrayal and back-stabbing (without the blood of some of the Bard’s plays, though), as legal complications and intellectual property battles drive the rest of the plot forward. To say that Zuckerberg is cast as a villain is not quite accurate; and yet, he is clearly not the film’s hero – nor is anyone else, really. The moral ambiguity that accompanies each big decision in the characters’ lives makes for an enticing experience from start to finish. Oftentimes, the viewer has no idea who to root for, as everyone is (usually all at once) relatable and disgusting in some way.
The writing in The Social Network must also be commended. Aaron Sorkin turned in a script close to three hundred pages, but one would never know it, as each character speaks with a rapid-fire delivery and has, more often than not, amusing one-liners thrown in at just the right spots to keep the viewer engaged and attentive. This could be the least likely quotable movie ever made.
Even though The Social Network lost the best picture Oscar to The King’s Speech, it is still an important film that quietly gives an origin story to a phenomenon that may come to define a generation. Facebook is huge, and larger than life in just about every aspect. The Social Network, however, is quiet but powerful, not unlike the film’s portrayal of Zuckerberg himself.
For those looking for a history lesson or documentary-esque truth, the real Zuckerberg went on to remark that they got his clothing right… but little else. But no matter how truthful or exaggerated the film may be, it is still as entertaining as anything else out there, and stands up to (many, many) repeated viewings. Hollywood Apples gives The Social Network a solid four-and-a-half out of five apples!
