In a Nutshell: "The Social Network" (8/10)

Rating: 8/10 (8 December 2010)

The Social Network..."A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? A billion dollars!"
Alright, put it this way; you wake up on a good morning and you say I'm gonna make a movie about something 500 million people use, like and spend time on every day. How do you think this movie is going to do? The answer is really one of three options; one, it earns loads of money and tops everyone's expectations. Two, it becomes as horrible as any twilight movie and just makes the money based on anticipation. Or three, it sinks in so bad, you regret waking up that morning. My fellow movie goers build your hopes up, it is option one.
As you may have seen, read or heard, this is the story behind the creation of one of our current time's most prominent inventions, Facebook. But, as interesting as it may sound, I thought it's quite scary; because such an idea is not one that gets a second a chance. If a movie is made about it, there isn't a big chance another one will be. The good news is, the minds behind making such a picture aren't of some average movie makers.
This is a tale of success and a parody of emotions, a blend of sophisticated intellect and willful deceit. The story goes around college life of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg , a man who, as depicted on the poster, is a punk, a genius, a traitor and a billionaire. From a college nerd hacking into Harvard's network, to the world's youngest billionaire, the road isn't as bumpy as you may think, but as Mark manages to make 500 million friends, he gets himself some enemies.
On the movie making side, the genius bunch, behind the scenes, lead this project to a quite impressive outcome. Executive producer Kevin Spacy, Hollywood's infamous screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and Academy Award nominated director David Fincher of "Se7en" and "Fight Club", all combine their efforts to take a few uprising acting talents and one of the coolest ideas for a movie this year, and make a blockbuster.
From the opening dialogue of the film you know you're in for a screen writing treat. But as it moves forward, chemistry arises between all sides, from acting to editing to screenplay and ultimately to directing. I recall 20 minutes into watching this, all I wanted to do is find out who's editing; the answer is Kirk Baxtor and Angus Wall, editors whose last project had been Fincher's "The curious case of Benjamin Button". The artistic mix and mash of scenes from the past and the present, and the clash of flashbacks and flash forwards in "The Social Network" depict the exceptional talent of the editing team and off course David Fincher himself.
In this film, upcoming youngster Jesse Eisenberg plays the lead role of the man behind Facebook; Mark Zukerberg. I remember a few weeks before the movie release I saw a picture of Eisenberg online captioned "The next Michael Cera?!!". I guess an opposite scenario would be Cera's best fit now because Jesse Eisenberg has just stepped his game up quite a few notches. We've seen Eisenberg before, the clumsily funny side of him in "Zombieland" side by side with mighty Woody Harelson, and the awkwardly confused teenager in "Adventureland" against the world champion of the awkwardly confused "Kristen Stewart". This time, however, Eisenberg takes it deeper into serious drama accepting the challenge of portraying a real life significant character that everyone can relate to. The way he did it makes me think he'd probably watched every video and heard every speech of Zuckerberg since he's made it to fortune and fame. A little award shower on Eissenberg's head wouldn't be much of a surprise in the next few months.
And how can I forget, our beloved Justin Timberlake who's probably finally found his perfect acting fit in the role of Sean Parker, creator of Napster, the other punk that inspired Zuckerberg's success. Eissenberg, Timberlake, together with Andrew Garfield who plays Zuckerberg's best friend Eduardo Saverin are about the 3 faces you'll be looking at all movie long. They'll do anything but bore you.
In a nutshell, even if "The Social Network" doesn't strike the liking of Mr 26 year old 6.9 billion dollar Mark Zuckerberg, it will serve the opposite to its viewers. Set your expectations on watching a realistic drama about the life of the planet's youngest self-made billionaire and his most controversial story in the business world today, and you won't be disappointed.