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The Social Network – David Fincher

Sitting down at the local cinema by myself at 9 in the evening, a lovely feeling whilst chewing on some sweet popcorn and some 7up, i notice the crowd that starts to form around me in the small theatre. Annoying couples and strangely older people litter the sits as the show begins which takes me by surprise. Not the annoying couples part, they are a given for cinemas nowadays with people being way too openly affectionate in public, it actually angers and annoy me; there is no need to act that way. I was surprised by the age of the people who have come to see a film about a modern website on a tool that is normally used by people under the age of 40. Facebook. You shiver when you hear that word if you don’t use it because you probably don’t use it for a reason because so many people use it and you laugh when people mention it because you have it and it’s used way too much. People easily older than 40 were there and not just a handful but made up a large amount of the crowd. Maybe they’ve come to see the legendary director David Fincher’s latest released or maybe they are big fans of Trent Raznor, the lead singer of Nine Inch Nails who composed the soundtrack or maybe they are fans of the acting of Jesse Eisenberg? I’ll never know. But, all of these factors lead to the whole cinema (well maybe I’m just presuming) having a great night, as The Social Network is a beautifully witty film that packs the punch with both great dialogue and some superb performances.

Following the heart breaking and betrayal origins story of the website Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, who is known to be the face and owner of Facebook, creates a website with some help but soon tries to get rid of that “with help” label to gain more money. The main plot of the film is the relationship between Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, who was a good friend of Zuckerberg who gave him codes and more importantly, gave him money for the website. The relationship is constantly strained throughout and with a great use of flashbacks, the story flips from being in modern time and to being at the beginning of the creation. Through in some really funny sequences with two geeks trying to deal with the pressure of being known on their campus and having people who dig their work and Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield are perfect in the two roles with Garfield particularly stealing the show. I really am looking forward to him being the new Spider-Man. Justin Timberlake also holds up and comes across as a dick which he is meant to be, so the whole ensemble cast works really well with the deep soundtrack with the weird and wonderful sounds which connect with the fantastic direction of Fincher who’s long shots of the setting with great angles and lighting. This film is truly a great film, don’t believe the negativity placed onto to this film because of the subject matter.

9/10

Simon Childs