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Rating: 7/10 (8 November 2010)

I know, this film has now been out for a while, but I've only just managed to catch it on the big screen and since I can tell this is one of those we are going to be talking about in the coming Awards season, I thought I should probably spend a couple of words discussing it. Easily the starting point has got to be the script. Aaron Sorkin is the real star of the film. The fast, sharp and witty dialogue, the same we all fell in love with on the West Wing is Sorkin's trade mark and is apparent on pretty much every single line in this film. At the end of the day it's what really makes it. David Fincher's direction this time seems pretty invisible to the untrained eye, but obviously to be able to make a bunch of nerds sitting by a computer interesting and compelling, as this film is, must have been not an easy task. The entire cast is faultless, lead by Jesse Eisenberg who is absolutely perfect in his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg. Even Justin Timberlake is very good as Sean Parker, the inventor of napster, as we learn from his first scene in the film. From the start the film quite clearly does not want to take sides and decides to avoid lawsuits by drawing its dialogue from the various transcripts from the various procedural meetings with the various sides' lawyer. And if there is a problem with the film, this is maybe it: there's a certain detachment throughout the film, from the way it's filmed (Ficher's direction is often quite cold and calculated), to the way it's written (typical of Sorkin), and edited (the constant cutting backwards and forwards from the procedural meetings to the real story), basically from the way its conceived right from the start. All of which prevents you from having a real emotional attachment to any of the character. You never really care about any of the any of them in particular. Each of the actors on screen does absolutely their best with what they are given, but clearly that's not enough. We almost want to feel bad for Andrew Garfield's character (who plays Zuckeberg's best friend Eduardo Saverin), but we are never given the chance to get too close to him, to fully care and really share his feeling of betrayal. In fact his character disappears half way through the film (he goes to New York) and when he comes back towards the end, are we supposed to reconnect straight away and feel for him? I don't think so. The film is so careful about not taking sides and sticking to the truth that it ends up being too clinical, cold and makes you feel really detached from it. I am sure that was probably the way all those people are in real life, but if you have to watch them for 2 hours you really need someone to care about. Towards the end (SPOILER ALERT but not really), we're almost given a glimpse of a moment where we are meant to feel sorry for Mark Zuckerberg (a person so incapable to connect with real people, just as he was so good in making them connect with the internet), but it's too little, too late. It's really not enough and actually, that's not how the film has been up until that point. I really wanted to love this movie, I wanted it to become my favourite film of the year and instead, I just thought it was all right.. but not more than that. And I am almost angry with myself for saying that! With all the will in the world, I don't think I can give it more than 7.5/10. Still a very good film, but not the masterpiece I was hoping. For more reviews, check out my moviegeekblog