Review of The Social Network (2010) by Shahmeer H — 14 Mar 2013

The plot line or main theme to The Social Network is not what most people would think when seeing the movie. They might think it was business, or web development, or maybe even friendship (which was one of them). It's not about any of those, really. If you take a look at the movie, it really revolves around greed. And what is that the character's greed for? Money. Money is the main theme or plot line in The Social Network. It's just that. Friendship is indeed a very important theme, and a highly noticeable one, but it's really not the basis of it all. And when you have a movie with friendship AND money as two of the themes, you know you're getting yourself into a juicy ride. The Social Network's story is basically the making of Facebook. It has one main character, Mark Zuckerburg, but I like to think of the film as having two main characters, the other one being Eduardo Severing. These two characters make "Thefacebook", as it was called back then in 2003, and try to get "cool" or "popular" with it. But as the website gets more and more member's they start to hurl themselves into the dark its of business, suing, and of course, money. It starts as a simple idea for a website, to a crazy adventure to get rich. The acting within The Social Network is unbelievable. Basically, I'm saying this because of Jesse Eisenberg. When I saw him in Zombieland, I thought of him to be a so-so, comedy actor. I often mistook him as Michael Cera. He wasn't very memorable, and his acting could've been much better. But when I saw The Social Network, I realized he was more than a so-so comedy actor. He was amazing as a jerk-like college nerd, and he was spectacular. He came a long way from when I first saw him. Then there was the acting from Andrew Garfield. His character was personally my favorite. He brought kindness, loyalty, and trust to the chaotic business world of the film. I truly thought that he should've been nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, just as Eisenberg got nominated for Best Lead Actor. Justin Timberlake also did well as Sean Parker, and I was happy to see Timberlake play a villain for once. It was interesting to see what he did with the character, and he made Sean Parker an evil, partying, businessman. The next thing I enjoyed from the film was the cinematography. The lighting in the film was excellent. It made the story seem very dark and full of sorrow. A few scenes were quite impressive with the cinematography, such as the scene Eduardo walks 20 feet just to throw Mark's desktop right in his face. Then, there was the Original Score. If there was one thing I hated at the Academy Awards this year, it was the win for The Social Network's score. Now, many of you will disagree on this, but really, it was just boring. If you listened to it on YouTube, all the pieces consisted of the same pattern and of nothing different. The most popular piece in the music of The Social Network was what sounded like a couple of bees buzzing, and then a few piano notes. It was good in the film at times, but it was also extremely annoying. And then the other part I disliked about this movie was the business terms. I'm no business man, and I really don't follow stocks, so I didn't very well understand what half the film was talking about when it came to the money-making issue within it. The film makers should've made the words or stock problems at least a bit more comprehendible for the average American. But on the bright side of things, there is the directing of the film. David Fincher, one of my all time favorite directors, directing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as well as this film, is spectacular at his directing job. All his films should be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and so should his directing. He was great at making this film, and I can't wait to see Behind the Scenes of it just to see how he made it all. In the end, this film truly deserved its Oscar Best Picture nomination, and it was close to winning the nomination, as well.

90/100.