DVD--The Social Network

or: 'The Facebook Movie'

One word to sum it up: Fast

Since 2004 the world has slowly been introduced to a different world filled with ‘likes’, ‘pokes’ and having more friends than everyone else. Whether you like to admit it or not, Facebook has taken over the world as we know it. So this was an ample opportunity for Aaron Sorkin to write an awesome screenplay and have famed director of murder-themed films David Fincher helm a film about the making of Facebook. When I first heard about this project I was a little confused as to why they would do this, but I, like many people, was completely blown away by what The Social Network achieved. This is highly intelligent drama at its absolute best, and really is the ‘film of our generation’.

Facebook is a website known for connecting people via technology and claims to ‘bring people together’. However, its creator, Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg), experienced the opposite after he created this phenomenon. The Social Network takes a look at the early days of Facebook and the two lawsuits that came with it: his best friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield) suing him for trying to get him out of his company; and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) suing him for ‘stealing their idea’.

This movie could have been made about a guy making a chair and it would still be wildly intriguing. The Facebook factor just adds novelty. The story it tells is one of friendship, betrayal, greed, power and the inability to connect with anyone. When we first meet Zuckerberg, jabbering away at his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara, the next ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’), we see a man completely devoid of emotion and simply unaware of what it means to be socially ‘with it’. While this scene sets up his cold character, the way this one opening scene is written by Aaron Sorkin is so brilliant. I swear every word in the English language was stuck into that one scene, thus setting the tone for the rest of the movie.

The Social Network is a perfectly made film. The Oscar winning script is perfect in the way that it has all the trimmings to make a fine thriller. The Oscar winning music by Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is totally modern and the way it zips across each scene is perfect. The Oscar nominated (and unfairly robbed) direction by David Fincher combines techniques he used in his past films Zodiac and Fight Club to make this an intense drama. While this isn’t the type of film he usually makes, he proves he is one of the best directors working at the moment. The Social Network is exactly like Fight Club without Marla Singer. And it’s beautiful.

Perhaps the best asset within The Social Network is the performances. Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), known for playing awkward and sweet geeks, makes a complete transformation as narcissistic and cold Zuckerberg. Even though his Oscar nominated performance is beyond amazing, he’s nothing without his friendship with Eduardo Saverin. Andrew Garfield (the next Spider-man) serves as the emotional joint of the film, and his final confrontation with Mark shows exactly how talented Garfield is. You heard it here first: he is the star of the future. Justin Timberlake does a damn good performance as Sean Parker; Disney starlet Brenda Song is crazy as Eduardo’s girlfriend; Armie Hammer does a brilliant job of playing a set of twins; and Rooney Mara, in three scenes, blew me away.

Unfortunately, The Social Network was unfairly and inexplicably robbed of Best Picture by The King’s Speech. I will always regard this movie as the better one of the two. I simply can’t speak any higher of The Social Network. It’s a frequently funny, enjoyable and fresh piece of cinema that ‘captures the spirit of the times’. Believe it.

THE VERDICT: Should have won Best Picture. Obviously, too modern for the voters.

What I got: