facebook movie review
i couldn’t imagine saying this when i’d first heard about they were making a movie about facebook … but i just saw ‘the social network’ and it was phenomenal.
without any particular sort of fanfare, the movie opens up with zuckerberg in an argument. the dialogue is impeccably written - almost too good. and the speaking is errorless and rapid - almost too good. it just seems outrageously intelligent. granted, we are talking about the youngest billionaire in the world, who changed the way half a billion of us communicate, and all of the supporting characters are harvard students. it’s believable, plausible, but i got to thinking about the movie being oversensationalized - i mean, it’s being dismissed by a lot of people for just that reason. some argue that it isn’t entirely honest, or that it’s dressed up to be falsely entertaining, et al. i don’t know where i stand on that. it’s all easy to say from outside the theater. but after my initial reactions during that scene, these issues hadn’t crossed my mind until halfway through the movie when i realized, good god, this film has really grabbed me by the balls.
beyond being a crazy story, the movie is really well made. the cinematography is awesome - particularly the unexpected tilt shift stuff at the rowing scene. very cool. and the winklevoss twins are played by the same actor - amazing, i’d never have guessed. the music is perfect … i’d heard reznor and atticus’s score prior and already liked it, but the cues make a lot more sense in the context of each scene. very well done and definitely deserving of the academy award. the acting is believable - even (if not especially) timberlake. my only complaint is that eduardo’s character and delivery was annoyingly similar to anakin’s pouts in star wars ep 2 and 3 at times. honestly, that is the only bad thing i can say about the movie.
the highest praise goes to aaron sorkin for the screenplay. zuckerberg, as a character, is stale and emotionless, monotone in delivery. but he comes off as alarmingly smart - in several scenes, not only flexing his own intellect but effortlessly destroying others’. it’s amazing to watch. he seems this smart because of what he says, and how it’s worded, and that’s all sorkin. the way the ‘then’ development juxtaposes with the ‘now’ lawsuits is all sorkin. the way a story about a bunch of geeks from massachusetts can be laid out in a manner that keeps you on the edge of your seat without a single fight or gun, is all sorkin. i’d hesitate to call the film brilliant, but the screenplay is.
i really enjoyed it and am glad i saw it in a theater.
