Director: David Fincher
Time: 2 hour 15 minutes
Genre: Drama
I wanted nothing more than to be the third person on www.rottentomatoes.com to give David Fincher's "The Social Network" a low-rated review. However, like 93 other movie reviewers, I cannot find a single obvious flaw in this film. It is a structurally perfect film. It isn't the best film I've seen this year, but it is undoubtedly a film that will stand the test of time and cinematic gold. From its brilliant screenplay, clear direction, capable cast and its "stranger than fiction" plot, "The Social Network" delivers 135 minutes of rich storytelling.
"The Social Network" is the re-telling of the life of Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. If you have been locked in a room for the past 5 years, Facebook is the biggest social networking web site in the world, with over 500 million users. Incidentally, Zuckerberg and his college friends Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes would form the social networking site in January of 2004. Soon after, the company would grow exponentially -- but not without its share of conflicts and confrontation.
David Fincher does quite possibly his best directing work in "The Social Network". Considering that he was the director on such classics as "Fight Club", "The Game", "Seven" and "Zodiac", that says a lot about the quality of direction in his latest work. The cinematography is clean, the scenes are fleshed out well and the tension between the film's characters are very palpable. Who knew a film that revolves around an argument between two people wanting to sue each other could be so intriguing? This is the power of Fincher's directing and the brilliant screenplay by Aaron Sorkin.
Sorkin, the mastermind behind "A Few Good Men" and "The West Wing" television series, creates a highly technical script that is easy to comprehend and has good pacing. The dialogue between characters is so rich and often very sharp. The condescending outbursts of Zuckerberg and the people he bumps heads with is very witty and intelligent. Yet, we all can understand what's going on here, even if the scope of their discussion is clearly over all our heads.
The cast does a great job of delivering that script to life as well. Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland) brings the persona of Mark Zuckerberg to life. Whether Eisenberg is a great actor or if he's just used to play pessimistic, arrogant intellectuals beats me but, Eisenberg was the right choice for the role. Andrew Garfield does a stellar job as Zuckerberg's partner Eduardo Saverin and Justin Timberlake has a true breakout role as Sean Parker, founder of Napster and former President of Facebook.
"The Social Network" is a great movie all around. Very developed in all aspects of film-making, "The Social Network" is a new staple of American film genius and should not be missed by anyone. Catch it tonight at the Tango Theatres as it is worth the hype.
5 out of 5 stars.
 | 
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2023 KUAM. All Rights Reserved. For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service, and Ad Choices. |
