The Social Network Review

 

        I’ve never thought that this film would be one of my personal favorites. I tried to find where it was streaming to no avail. Of all the tv channels that were available, Freeform was the one to have it on demand. The film has everything I like that makes me appreciate film. It is the best film of 2010 and the best of the decade. 

1. This Generation’s “Citizen Kane”

        You may have heard of the film I just referenced. Citizen Kane is considered the greatest film ever. While it’s a general term since it was groundbreaking for the time, the gist of it is that it has an idealistic man rise in riches. Only to have his pride be his downfall. I’ll be talking about Kane some other time, but for the moment let’s talk about The Social Network.

        It’s mostly about Mark Zuckerberg co-creating Facebook with his friend Eduardo Saverin. Through a series of events, he manages to create an expansive social media site, while also making some enemies. What makes it great is that it’s mostly a non-chronological story. Meaning that the story is told any way but straight. Since, it would be boring to see it play out chronologically from the start to end.

        It just works since Aaron Sorkin is a great screenwriter. Every dialogue is snappy, and David Fincher is talented enough to have the entire movie be interconnected with scenes overlap to raise the tension in the scenes involving deposition. You can say that the film is a mix of various genres and sub genres that makes it interesting since every actor is in their A-Game. 

        This is Mark’s story, although I will admit that the film was too early to have been made. Generally, a movie about someone famous or in this case something changing the status quo tends to be made after the person is dead. At that time, it’s too early since the site was slowly becoming a juggernaut. With foresight, there could possibly be a sequel considering what has happened to the site. 

        Aside from Jesse Eisenberg portraying Zuckerberg, Andrew Garfield steals the show. He plays Eduardo, which is weird since he’s British and Eduardo is Brazilian. Anyways, he’s Mark’s friend and usually tries to bring him down to Earth. That mostly involves being his only friend and keeping up with him. 

        Lastly, what I like is that we see a reason as to why Mark creates Facebook. We see that he’s just a regular Harvard student with gifted computer skills. He wasn’t in any exclusive clubs, and decided to create the site as his answer to the exclusive school clubs. It’s even referenced in the scene where Mark argues with Eduardo for freezing the company’s account. Mark doesn’t want to go back to being a nobody. 

2. Interconnected Legal Drama

        As I mentioned before, Mark Zuckerberg co-created Facebook and made some enemies. The way we see Facebook be invented was Mark being dumped by his girlfriend. In a fit of drunken rage, he created a site where he used pictures of girls in various dorms to rate. From there, the Winklevoss twins see him and invite him to create their exclusive Harvard social network. 

        Mark inevitably uses the twin’s idea to create his own social network. With that, he faces a series of legal battles about who create or stole Facebook. Within the legal moments, he comes in contact with Sean Parker. I’ve never thought it was possible to hate Justin Timberlake in a role. He nails it as being the slime who sees Mark and helps him grow the website.

        Part of the reason why the legal moments are interesting is that when you watch it, the scenes are cut together with Mark facing the Winklevi and facing his own co-creator. It weaves perfectly where it doesn’t feel jarring. Mostly it be boring to watch a legal hearing about who stole or created Facebook. The best moment is when Mark answers with his cold attitude and shutting down the Winklevi.

        Some may see this subplot as unnecessary, since the main focal point of the film is between Mark and Eduardo. Gradually the film shows the twins attempting to find ways to get Mark. Eventually suing him for stealing their idea. The moment with this twin is actually a special effect. Armie Hammer plays the twins, during the shoot he’d be one of them and a stand in would be in place for the other brother. To say they have bad luck, is amplified when they row in competition and come close to first. 

3. My Favorite Scene

        This is my favorite scene in the movie, it involves Sean and Mark. As Mark goes west to grow Facebook, he sees Parker again. He invites him to a club and from there, Sean has Mark where he wants him. The music is loud and they talk loud. Sean tells him a story involving the creation of Victoria’s Secret, which if you could switch the various parts of the story to fit Zuckerberg, it would work. 

        Aside from Sean telling the story, he brought up that he created Napster since the girl he liked was dating a jock. Mark asks if he ever thought about that girl. It still shows that Mark hasn’t gotten over his breakup. At another instance, he thinks he can get back together with his ex, who blows him off. It could be his “Rosebud”, the thing that motivated him to try and get back the person he lost that he cherished the most. 

4. Overall

        What can I say, I love The Social Network. It was snubbed for Best Picture, but I think it’s more memorable since it involves something that is part of our life now. The film works since at its core its about a friendship falling apart. And how one man tried to make 500 million other friends.