Fincher's best work yet.

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 2013)

I was skeptical about "The Social Network" when I first heard about it. I didn't know what to expect from a film that's about the birth of a social networking site because I couldn't see why that was such an interesting subject. But when the plaque reads Aaron Sorkin as the screenwriter and David Fincher as the director, we can only expect a cinematic experience that will have us talking about it for years. "The Social Network" is a turbulent piece of cinema so near-perfect that it's overwhelming. In the film's 120 minutes runtime, Fincher and Sorkin scrutinize the facts and lore that went into making the new century's greatest phenomenon and the analysis is narrated with such skill that it hardly seems relevant if they got the facts right.
In the opening sequence, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) drives his peevish girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) crazy by his self-obsessed talk about his future plans and SATs score. When he ends up ridiculing her qualifications, she dumps him. An incensed and inebriated Zuckerberg returns to his dorm room and creates a website, Facemash, wherein he rates female students based on their attractiveness. The website soon goes viral and crashes the same night, but not before giving Zuckerberg the idea of Facebook. The popularity and ensuing outrage over Facemash gets him the attention of the twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella). Soon after, they hire him to create a dating website for them, but instead he goes to his wealthy best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) with the idea of Facebook.
Saverin agrees to get the funds to build the website, and they release it live on the Harvard University campus in 2003. Though the Winklevoss twins express their anger over Zuckerberg 'stealing their idea', he gets Napster co-founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) on board to get the website advertised and get in touch with investors. The rest of the story focuses on the subsequent lawsuits filed against Facebook and their outcome.
Fincher has always been dexterous at handling stories about the psyche of a recluse or an introvert. Therefore, it's no surprise that the way he handles the primary character, who is both, is with such finesse. The interpretation of Zuckerberg is fascinating to watch - sly and deceitful, though, at times, altruistic. He directs brilliantly, tuning the finer nuances to perfection while keeping an eye out for the little details. Though a compelling drama about greed and loyalty, it plays out like a fire-breathing thriller with its ferocious intensity and whirlwind narrative. One of the finest sequences in the film has no dialog, and it's a boat race, marvelously executed and drifting dreamily on the magical, haunting soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Jeff Cronenweth's striking camera-work effectively captures the urgency even in slow-mo, and Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall's remarkable editing keeps it crisp. That's the case with the rest of the film too, for it is built with sequences shot adeptly while keeping the zing factor at surface.
Though "The Social Network" has a lot to like, the writing of the film stands out as its best characteristic. The characters carry out supremely witty conversations, and a quip acts as the best weapon in a film in which the plot is constructed entirely out of ego conflicts. The dialog is intelligent and darkly funny, and Sorkin, who excels in that department, has served up his finest work. "The Social Network" will certainly be remembered for its consummate script years later, if not for anything else.
The cast, peopled by a bunch of young actors, is terrific. Eisenberg, who usually plays wimpish characters, is a revelation. He brings a quiet confidence and maturity to the character of Zuckerberg, ratting off the best quips in the film with such flair that it's impossible to imagine anyone playing the character any better. Garfield, who lost out on a deserving Oscar nomination, is excellent. He performs exceedingly well in his scenes with Eisenberg, and it's easy to sympathize with his character. Timberlake, in a supporting role decision that could've transmuted as a fatal mistake, is a major discovery. His acting chops have never shone so overtly, and he's charmingly odious as the film's only antagonist.
"The Social Network" is the best film I've seen in ages, a film which examines and questions its characters and their actions rather than the story behind them. The brisk and perceptive peek into the website that affected a generation is a film that merits high praise, and it certainly ranks as a masterwork of a filmmaker who seems to know how to use this medium better than most others.