'The Social Network' review

One of the most eagerly anticipated and talked-about films of the year alongside ‘Inception’, David Fincher’s ‘The Social Network’ more than lives up to the heavy expectation it’s been weighted with.

Unless you’ve been living in seclusion the last few weeks you’ll already be aware that the premise of this docu-drama is centred on the prodigal computer hacker Mark Zuckerberg who essentially creates Facebook in one drunken night and, upon unleashing it on the world, becomes embroiled in a number of legal battles over his billionaire fortune and the website copyright.

The film glides along at the trademark frenetic pace that made Fincher’s earlier work – ‘Seven’, ‘Fight Club’ – so entertaining. It has the same sharp sense of character and punchy dialogue (credit to a fantastic script by Aaron Sorkin whose recent writing credits include ‘The West Wing’) that ensures the film never stalls or feels like it’s treading water amidst the subject matter, which, taken at face value, had plenty of potential to be slow and un-involved. Credit should also be given to the highly nuanced and feverish electronic score by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame) that wonderfully streamlines the whole film.

It is perhaps the first film in which the central focal point is the internet itself, and the leading role taken by the intangible entity that is, of course, ‘Facebook’. The narrative swirls around this transient cyber-character at such a rate that it truly captures the surreal impression of this monster breaking free from the human characters who struggle to keep up with their creation as it ascends into the stratosphere from the confines of their Harvard dorm.

The film is brave in the way that it never seems to pander to the mass audience to which it’s been marketed; it requires the viewer to really engage in order to fully appreciate the unfolding story. For this reason I don’t think it’s anywhere near as watchable as ‘Fight Club’, nor as dark and engaging as ‘Seven’, but is ultimately a far more intelligent and important movie; brave in its depiction of Zuckerberg and the majority of the characters as essentially quite unlikeable people, thanks to brilliant performances from both Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg and Andrew Garfield as his former best friend Eduardo Savarin. Even Justin Timberlake puts in an impressive turn playing Scott Parker, the charismatic founder of Napster.

The moral underbelly of the film is particularly discernable, in that it recognises that whilst the Facebook phenomenon has transformed 21st century networking and communication for better or worse, it also threatens to impinge upon actual human engagement and true relationships. This is reflected in the thought-provoking final scene that leaves Zuckerberg languishing as the youngest billionaire in the world but lacking the bravery to add as a friend the girl who dumped him back in Harvard. I believe that in 20 or 30 years ‘The Social Network’ will rightfully be held in high regard as one of the defining films of this generation and as a work of great social significance.