Fascinating story of the other side of Facebook

Rating: 8/10 (1 November 2010)

It's a rare thing that I've walked into a cinema screening a new release that's been open for 4 days on a Sunday afternoon and struggled to find a decent seat. That was what I found though when I went to see The Social Network, it would appear that like the founding of the website it features the film is becoming a social phenomenon. I also found it interesting to see that perhaps ⅔ of the audience were of a certain more elderly age.
You may not be on Facebook, but you'd be hard pressed be among the few that haven't at least heard of it. It is perhaps not important though, because as a film The Social Network manages to convey a fascinating story regardless of your user-ship of the involved site. David Fincher is an awesome talent and despite my reservations of this project when it first surfaced it is a very accomplished piece of work. Direction here is extremely tight, the story is straight forward and unfolds easily interspersed with moments from the legal proceedings. The way that the story unfolds is quite astonishing and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg comes across as a very clever man, brilliant with computers but also a general grasp of everything which makes him almost a little cold and calculated.
Casting is great, Jesse Eisenberg is great as Zuckerberg with his quick fire dialogue, but elsewhere there is talent although I must say I struggled with Justin Timberlake in this. Dialogue and the script shine throughout and that's important as the film really is a dialogue based one, but it never falters throughout. The fascination also remains through out, the escalation of the site's popularity and therefore the financial side of events are incredible and this behind the scenes format gives you a different understanding of Facebook itself. The contrast of friends mucking around with the internet and the onset of million dollar lawsuits which in turn destroys friendships is shocking. The scenes that portray the legal proceedings where friends have become enemies and Zuckerberg almost outsmarts everyone are brilliant and for me are the real highlights of the film, yet as a whole it's difficult not to be at least a little fascinated.
What is also remarkable is how Fincher has managed to make this story interesting, a quick look at this doesn't really provide a very thrilling story, but once you start watching, you can loathe Facebook or anything it stands for but still have a excellent film experience, the final outcomes and payouts are worth the journey alone, the outcome left me gob smacked. There is nothing like a good story and Facebook provides it.
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