The Social Network: Reviews
Two Fervr writers (from Australia & the UK) review the 'Facebook movie'
Tomorrow on Fervr, reviewers Joel and Edwin will provide a look at ‘What Christians can learn from The Social Network’. Come back to Fervr tomorrow to check that out. If you want to add your own thoughts about ‘The Social Network, leave your comments at the bottom.
Review by Edwin Tomlins (UK)
The Social Network is a smart, funny and surprisingly engaging film. It’s smart thanks to writer Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, A few Good Men). His script, despite being 2 hours of dialogue (including plenty of legal and technical jargon), is sharp, interesting and a great example of good storytelling.
It’s funny thanks to Jesse Eisenberg’s (Adventureland) portrayal of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. He is depicted as a gifted, but socially awkward, teenager butting heads with not only condescending adults, but also the comic Winklevoss twins (both played by Armie Hammer), and the savvy, if slightly paranoid, Sean Parker (played with vigour by Justin Timberlake).
It’s also surprisingly engaging thanks to well-paced and clever directing by David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, Panic Room), who manages to keep the viewer interested in the story despite numerous jumps in time and the fact that very little actually “happens.” It is, after all, the story of an idea.
Facebook is one of the runaway success stories of our generation. Launched in 2004 to several US universities, and opened up to the rest of the world in 2006, Facebook has reportedly gathered more than 500 million users in an incredibly short period of time. That’s one user out of every fourteen on the planet. It is currently second only to Google in terms of web traffic, and has long overtaken MySpace, Bebo any other competitors to become the number one social networking site on the Internet. Its founder, 26 year old Mark Zuckerberg, is listed as one of the most influential people on the Internet, and one of the youngest billionaires in the world. Zuckerberg is also famously bristly when it comes to his intentions for creating what is effectively the world’s largest collection of personal and private information.
The problem is, however, that no one really knows the details about the creation of Facebook. No one who’s talking, that is. The Social Network depicts the various lawsuits disputing who really had the idea in the first place. Zuckerberg was sued by both close friend Eduardo Saverin (well played by Andrew Garfield) and by the creators of a rival Harvard dating site. Both groups used the “without me you’d be nothing” arguments which seem to only surface after something becomes suddenly profitable. The settlements of these lawsuits, reportedly in the tens of millions, are subject to confidentiality clauses limiting the ability of anyone to discuss the details. So, Sorkin had to use plenty of imagination (and Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires) when constructing the story, and could really only guess at Zuckerberg’s intentions.
The Social Network is a clever film which will quickly become a favourite of geeks and cinema fans alike, even if it doesn’t answer many of the questions about why Facebook was created or what its owners intend to do with the massive amount of personal information we have entrusted to it.
Review by Joel A Moroney (Australia)
First up, let me get something out of the way: this is not a movie about Facebook. Sure, Facebook gets mentioned a lot. We see the time they thought of including a person’s relationship status on their page. And in one scene someone says “Hey look at this – I just created something called The Wall.” But that’s not what the movie is about.
This is a movie about a brilliant young man who made some stupid choices. Mark Zuckerberg is the creator of Facebook. Depending on who you talk to, he either single-handedly revolutionised the way we interact online or he stole the idea from other people and stabbed his friends in the back along the way. Want to know the true story? Well you won’t find it here. The Social Network tries really hard to present things the way they happened but it’s aware that this just isn’t possible. The story behind Facebook is a mess of contradictory statements and outright lies. By all appearances, no one is telling the whole truth. Instead of this being a fault with the movie, it’s a plus. The viewer is encouraged to make up their own mind about what actually happened.
The story is about Mark Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard University. Mark has a desperate need to belong, to be part of the exclusive social elite. His desire is so all-consuming that he barely notices when his girlfriend dumps him. What follows is a night of drunken blogging and the creation of a website that rated the female students at Harvard based on their attractiveness. This website, which involved some unethical and illegal hacking, gets him some attention. What follows is a tangled web of deceit as everyone tries to claim their piece of what will become Facebook.
It’s ironic that a site about friendships could result in so many broken friendships in the real world. By the end of the movie, Mark and his best friend Eduardo can no longer look each other in the eye. Their friendship has been broken by betrayal and the billions of dollars brought in by the website.
This movie is a must see. There’s still a couple of months left to go, but this could be the movie of the year.
The performances from the three leads are fantastic. Eisenberg does a brilliant job of making Zuckerberg such a layered character. There’s a danger in him being too one dimensional. Instead, he plays the role with such a manic energy that you’re never really sure what’s going through his head. Garfield, who plays Eduardo, has been cast as Peter Parker in the new Spider-Man film. Based on his performance here, Spider-Man might have a chance of not being terrible. And what can I say about Justin Timberlake? I loved him in Southland Tales and I loved him here.
The only thing to watch out for are a few scenes that depict/suggest sex and/or drug use. Take these scenes with caution and enjoy the rest of the movie.
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