Review of The Social Network (2010) by Dillinger P — 24 Oct 2014

It's hard to think that a film about the creator of Facebook would be an all time classic and one of, if not, the best David Fincher film there is, but believe it. I remember the slack this film got prior to its release, one note excuses about how bad a film it would be, "Why would anyone want to watch a film about facebook?" cried many people.

Even to this day there are still people, who havent seen this movie and have no desire to because of the afformentioned. Let me tell you right here, that not only is this film a master class in film making, it is also a perfect example of kinetic and free flowing story telling during a long period of time.

This film is about the relationship between Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saveron, 2 friends a school, who after a bit of persuading by Mark, decide to create a website that could potentially make them big news within the school.

Unknown to Saveron, the idea was based on identical twins, the Winkelvoss's and Divien Horrendra's idea for a web page called the Harvard Connection, which Mark used the basis off to create the hit page we all know and most likely have our own profiles on by now.

The film documents the 2 ongoing court cases against Zuckerberg, while also documenting the rise of facebook and the deterioration of relationships around Zuckerberg as he becomes the worlds youngest billionaire.

Sounds like a lot to cover in one movie? It is, but it is executed perfectly with a style and pace that just hurtles towards the finish line, giving you no time at all to breathe. You are constantly thrown between flashbacks, court cases and of the time situations continually.

Not to mention the score, which ill touch on in a bit, which just keeps the whole thing bouncing until the final moments. The acting is beyond perfect, the cast of this film is perfect. Jesse Essenberg is brutally hilarious, smart and just the right amount of weird to pull of Zuckerberg, there are small blink and you will miss them moments where his attention is only on the job at hand his surroundings matter little to him, in one scene he runs through a mass of snow in flip flops in order to get back to his dorm to add a line of code to facebook, its moments like this that make this film so addictive.

Andrew Garfield is on fire and delivers the films most riveting performance, not only does he own the screen everytime hes on it, not only does he work amazingly well with Jesse as friends but he totally envelops the entire film, every scene he is in is just a wonder to watch.

Justin Timberlake plays Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, who manages to sweep Zuckerberg off his feet and he does it with the style and panache that only Timberlake could deliver. Armie Hammer is excellent as both Winklevoss and Rooney Mara, for what time she has, is majestic as Zuckerbergs slight love interest.

All of this would be polish were it not for Aaron Sorkins top notch script. Very few people do dialogue well but here, the script is brutal, whitty, challenging, intellectual and just so fast paced. It doesnt bog you down with needless shit, it hits it all perfectly and the actors deliver these lines just how they should be.

This is testament to Finchers shooting style of around 50 takes per scene, at least. The look of the film is gorgeous, the colour is beyond glorious and the entire grade gives the film an eerie atmosphere.

The real champion here though is the score. This film is genius without it, anything could have went over the top here and it wouldnt have lessend the experience. However Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross deliver a soundtrack that totally fires the film into stratospheric territory.

No wonder they won an oscar for it, it adds an emotional weight to the entire piece that just has you completely hooked, body and soul. This film is my favourtie movie by Fincher, its smart, enjoyable, gorgeous, kinetic and dark.

I honestly cannot think of one bad thing to say about this movie, there is nothing bad about it. It works, on every level, buy, watch, talk about it, recommend it. This is a classic.