Rating of
4/4
Not a generation-defining film, at least not yet
mrschu47912 - wrote on 10/26/10
David Fincher has questioned parts of society in many of his films. He does this again in The Social Network by asking the reason for pursuing wealth or what the point of being successful is. This is not his best work, but it goes along perfectly with his portfolio.
There are really no flaws in the film. Aaron Sorkins script is paced perfectly for David Fincher’s direction. The acting is superb, from Jesse Eisenberg to even Justin Timberlake.
Something Fincher has done well over the years is his use of characters. Sometimes when a character had been used by a movie, a director has a hard time letting them go and tries to give them sentimental goodbyes to the audience. With this movie, people come and go as they do in real life. The leads experiences with people end badly and we should be left with that.
Examples would come from the characters played by Timberlake and Andrew Garfield. As much as we’d like to see them come to terms with Eisenberg, we know this would be unnecessary and clichéd. Instead they leave us abruptly, and we are left feeling the same way about them as the lead character.
The strongest part of the movie is the character of Mark Zuckerberg, played by Eisenberg. The character is handled well by Fincher because he doesn’t treat him like Citizen Kane. Eisenberg does a great job at retaining the youth to the character, or in other words Zuckerberg doesn’t look back at his life with all the experience in the world, but rather he looks at the ignorance in him. He is not Eugene Kane because he still has plenty of years ahead of him to change.
Technical things should be mentioned as well. The Sound is fantastic. There is a scene where two characters are in a nightclub with blasting music. The sound does not quiet down so the actors can hear themselves. Instead, they must speak loudly over the music. This scene itself could earn the sound team an oscar.
The Social Network is one of the best films of the year and you should expect it to be a big award contender this spring.
