Brilliant, Bold, and Heartbreaking

Rating: 9/10 (2 September 2019)

I won't mince words: "The Social Network" is a brilliant film. Brilliant direction, brilliant writing, brilliant acting, and a brilliant score all come together to tell a tale of greed, sex, money, and the irony of a man with a million followers but zero friends. Certain aspects of the film already feel dated, and the ending could use some work, but overall "The Social Network" is a knock-out.
The film isn't all that historically accurate - there was no Erica Albright who inspired Facebook and Zuckerberg wasn't the totally ruthless, emotionless robot Aaron Sorkin makes him out to be. But the movie's story, a classic tragedy of power and broken friendships, is a powerful look into a contemporary world increasingly dominated by social media.
Jesse Eisenberg is stellar as Mark Zuckerberg, who's the perfect protagonist for "The Social Network." While the script exaggerates his many flaws, the movie paints a searing portrait of our modern cultural landscape by choosing to show him as a cold narcissist who is able to create one of the biggest social media phenomenons of all time despite being socially inept. Fincher and Sorkin use Zuckerberg to examine not just Facebook but an entire era where the internet suddenly has the power to change the world in a matter of minutes and the number of followers you have on social media means more than the value of your genuine friendships.
The greatest scene in the movie brings these themes to the surface so beautifully when Eduardo, fed up with Zuckerberg's betrayals, smashes Mark's computer and tells him, "I'm not coming back for 30%, I'm coming back for everything." As Eduardo is escorted out of the building Facebook employees celebrate the milestone of a million users signing up for the website. Mark may have a million followers, but his one true friendship is long gone. Aside from being highly memorable this scene does much to showcase Andrew Garfield's skill an an actor - his performance is by far the best in the film.
As to be expected from David Fincher the technical aspects of "The Social Network" are almost flawless: the movie has such a distinct look and feel that evokes the early 2000s without really becoming a period piece. The editing and pacing are on-point and the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is a driving, brutal soundtrack that animates the film's endless scenes of code writing, computer hacking, and litigation that might otherwise have been dull. Although there's a few points in the film where the score becomes repetitive, and the usage of dubstep is unneeded, the music is still impressive.
"The Social Network" was certainly one of the best films of 2010, but that doesn't make it a perfect movie. The film overuses obscure technical jargon, especially in the first act, and the ending just doesn't cut it. After two hours of gripping drama the movie screeches to an abrupt halt with a finale that contradicts the whole premise of the main narrative: a young lawyer tells Mark that although he's not a bad person, he "tries so hard to be." In contrast, nearly everything that Mark said or did throughout the movie showed that he's a jerk even to his best friend but doesn't care - and maybe doesn't even realize it. He isn't trying to be a bad person, he just is and that's what ironically resulted in Facebook. The ending doesn't ruin the movie by any means but it does undermine its central theme.
Further, the movie already feels dated. Mark's petty rivalries and backstabbing now appear quaint in a time when the real Zuckerberg has been accused of selling Americans' personal information to the Russians, who may or may not have swung the 2016 election to a man who himself is very much a product of our chaotic social media landscape. The movie's story is still compelling and entertaining, but I almost wish that Fincher and Sorkin had waited another ten years to make "The Social Network" so that these newer and more interesting questions could've been addressed. "The Social Network" is imperfect but nonetheless it's a towering artistic achievement that well-deserved its critical praise and box office success. 9/10.