Can't Make A Few BILLION Without Making A Few Enemies...

“The Social Network” is a film directed by David Fincher with script by Aaron Sorkin; the film is based on the book by Ben Mezrich called “The Accidental Billionaires“. “Social Network”. God, how those words now mean quite a lot to a great many number of people these days. Right now, I am posting a review on a “social networking” site called lunch.com about a film that portrays the beginnings of one of America’s most famous “social sites” called “Facebook”. You would not believe the story behind how the idea came about and how “Facebook” became a multi-billion dollar company.

What births an invention? Is it necessity or creativity…is it something that has become inspired by need? Well, in the case of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) it may have been one birthed out of anger and frustration. After he had been dumped by his girlfriend (Rooney Mara), Mark opens up a few beers and starts blogging; later on, he hacks into data bases and makes a small website called “Facesmash.com” that allows female students to be rated according to their physical appearance. Well, after Mark gets the attention of school authority figures, Mark slowly evolves the idea that will make him the youngest billionaire in the world.

               

               

“THE SOCIAL NETWORK” is a film about connections and maybe of human reaction and emotions. The viewer will see Mark Zuckerberg as someone so incredibly intelligent who happens to be in the right place at the right time. Human connections vital to any form of success, the right interaction and reaction births the right opportunity and emotion drives some of the film’s premise through with an introduction of jealousy and greed. Once you see, Zuckerberg’s idea taking off faster than anyone could expect, everyone wants to be in the bandwagon. His best friend, Eduardo (Andrew Garfield) becomes jealous of his success and how he started hooking up with different connections like the former founder of Napster (Justin Timberlake) and fears for his part in the company. The Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer in dual roles) lay a claim that they had the idea that Zuckerberg had evolved and used it for his own gain. Jealousy, greed and anger always go hand-in-hand. Seems like everyone wants a piece of the pie that Mark had created.

                 

                

               

The film begins with Mark Zuckerberg being dumped by his girlfriend, then he is shown in an arbitration, talking about things that had happened. The film has a lot of flashbacks and it actually makes it the main focus of the film. The film draws the viewer into the story at a very nice pace and kept quite strong through the cleverness of its dialogue and Fincher’s careful hand in the direction. The film makes its points quite well, and never does point an accusing finger at any of the opposing parties. Fincher handled the narrative quite well while giving the details according to Zuckerberg, the Winklevoss’s and Eduardo’s points of view. I also loved the way Fincher handled the visuals and the execution of the sequences as illustrated in several scenes; one can see the anger, the frustrations and the disappointments of each character in the film when the people in a room are talking about the flashbacks as they were happening.

               

              

              

The dialogue in the film is actually one of its main aces as Sorkin makes each exchange realistic and strong without becoming either too funny and/or dramatic. Eisenberg needs to be commended for becoming quite convincing in his deliveries of his lines. You see him as an incredibly intelligent individual with little social relationships; he may seem a little alienated but he does have a best friend in the person of Eduardo, who is nicely played by Garfield; he provides the finances while Zuckerberg has all the technical abilities. Much of the film then evolves into a picture that tells of the story behind “Facebook” as they hook up with Sean Parker who is then played quite well by Justin Timberlake much to my surprise. I am sure that some scenes have been a little exaggerated to generate entertainment; but for the most part, Fincher makes the film feel very real because of his careful use of emotions.

There has been several films that have portrayed the ‘rags to riches’ scheme of things, and even more so films about greed and jealousy. “The Social Network” is another such film; it tells of one man’s ascendance to fame and fortune and as nature insists there will be a few bumps along the way. Fincher has crafted a well-executed biopic that portrays one’s losses and many gains through one‘s connections that came at the right time that presented the right opportunity. The only weakness I could see was the minor Hollywood-rendered final scene which was obviously added in to pitch a question as to how the first scene affected Zuckerberg. I guess no man is an island and deep inside, everyone just wants to fit in; even if it means creating a virtual cargo.

Highly Recommended! [4 ½ Out Of 5 Stars]
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