This intelligent and wonderful carousel of fights and agreements filled with lawyers and deceptions is the perfect way to sum the current society, virtual or not.

Rating: 9/10 (31 October 2010)

When I first heard about this project I was pessimistic since I refused to believe in a story about some website where people interact with each other. Then, David Fincher was announced to direct the movie and that news dazzled me because Fincher is known for his compact, complex storytelling so I was kind of biased on this project and still didn't cared about it that much. But then, months after that, the movie came out and an avalanche of positive reviews started. Right then I said "I need to see this movie, what the hell was I thinking? It's Fincher for god sake!". So, I grabbed a ticket and I went to see it. I must say I was completely satisfied with the movie, not only satisfied but impressed and in a way it touched me but I find it a little bit overrated. Aaron Sorkin deserves a nomination for best Screenplay since the narrative story and dialogue was perfect. No mistake and no cheesy lines, just smart content.
Fincher's excellent directing and storytelling is the ultimate weapon of audience-attraction a Facebook movie could have had. Each shot followed by next one shows a logical, smart and innovative progress through the Facebook creation. Not only that, but he succeeded to let the viewer acknowledge that's he's not watching just a Facebook movie but more a movie about society's goods and bads... Of course, the story is based on Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), the young Harvard student who "by inspiration and chance" became the youngest billionaire in the world. Through his moments of brightness he had an accomplice in Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) in creating the main social connector in the world. Many said, this movie is not based on the real deal behind the creators of Facebook, one of them being "the" Mark Zuckerberg but Fincher never suggested that this movie is about that but more about the social structure of today's world no matter if the society created it's virtual or not. Fincher analyzes all the possibilities, gives the best interpretation and shows us the naked truth behind the main goals of an adolescent. Mark Zuckerberg is the perfect example of that adolescent who can't integrate himself into a society because he doesn't have the required "skills" to make it there, to survive, and because of his personal frustrations he succeeds to create the one thing he couldn't be a part of: a society. Being a virtual society it doesn't really matter in these days when the differences between it and the real one (or the one that finds herself in reality) are close to none. But may I ask... which in fact is the real one? There's the point of this movie... And this intelligent and wonderful carousel of fights and agreements filled with lawyers and deceptions is the perfect way to sum that.
The cast of Jesse Eisenberg is not only because of the physical but also because of this guy's talent to portray such a simple but in fact deep character. But Jesse ain't the top notch as far as acting because the secondary roles held by Justin Timberlake who plays the founder/creator of Napster, Sean Parker and Andrew Garfield who plays Zuckerberg's partner, Eduardo Saverin, simply takeover the show. I honestly would like to see Andrew Garfield to be nominated in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the Academy since he managed to deliver such a great and powerful performance.
Another place where Fincher always succeeds is the cinematography and editing. This film was beautifully shot, every take has a meaning and no scene alone was boring or dragged too much. The music was also a big contributor to the atmosphere of the movie, it's not something the Academy would look after but it definitely delivered.
With all this, the "Facebook movie", The Social Network is this generation's movie because it reflects our current society and our current beliefs but I also consider it to be a little bit overrated, especially considering some critics had the guts to compare this with the Godfather or Citizen Kane. I must say this LOUD and clear: It ain't nowhere near Citizen Kane or Godfather. It's a very very good movie but it doesn't have that strong emotional impact like those movies. While I said it impressed me emotionally I am also saying that this doesn't mean it's an powerful emotional movie because it's not. It's like a story of a dark twisted fantasy of some poor loser in life which transcends to reality but that's it.