The Social Network. What can I say about this film that hasn't already been said by people more famous and more articulate than me? It captures the spirit of the times magnificently, with clarity and pizazz. It chronicles the life of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and the birth of the single biggest Internet phenomenon of all time.
I was around in those heady, early days; my Facebook account goes back to late 2004, under an old college email address that I have been unable to access in nearly half a decade since graduating. I know full-well what Eisenberg's character meant when he refers to the “exclusivity” of Facebook (even though my alma mater hardly deserves to be called “exclusive” compared to the likes of Harvard, Yale, Stamford, and the others). It was at a point in history “chic” to have a Facebook account.
The film recounts the development and spread of the website in a series of flashbacks that occur during the (well known?) legal troubles in which Zuckerberg was enmeshed a few years back. I initially had my doubts as to how well the film would flow; after all, under the dramatic licenses taken by the filmmakers, we still have a computer science story that the Jens among us Roys and Mosses would undoubtedly find pedantic and meaningless.
But it all worked out in the end. I was engrossed throughout; not because I'm a shameless nerd who reads websites on the inner workings of Pac Man for fun, but because the film is that good. The pacing is just right. It didn't feel like two hours of movie, but the necessary exposition dumps weren't compromised in any way. Someone ignorant of Facebook's general history would be able to follow the website's developments and drama without issue.
I could go on about the casting, the soundtrack, the filming locations, more; but I won't. That would be the sort of pedantic prattling that is best avoided. Instead, see this movie. My words simply don't do it justice.
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