"The Social Network"

Okay, so... What to say about Facebook? There's not a whole lot really, other than the fact that it's one of the most popular social networking sites that's around today. It's turned its founder into a billionare, it allows people to stay connected...

...and it got a movie made about its early years. Yeah, I didn't see that one coming either.

Since I'm sure you'll know what I mean, I'll cut to the chase and get to today's movie.

The Social Network

Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is an undergrad at Harvard University. With Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), he forms the Facebook website. It becomes popular very quickly, and also becomes embroiled in controversy when first the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer) accuse Mark of stealing their idea, and then Eduardo when he starts to get slowly screwed over by Mark and Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake).

And that's all I can summarize. It's tough to make a summary of something you can read up about on Wikipedia as being stuff that actually happened. Same problem as what comes up with The Tudors, if I read certain TVGuides right.

So yeah, this movie. Well... it's about the founding of Facebook, yes. But if you're going in there expecting that to be the only thing it's about... you might want to reevaluate that stance.

I mean that in the best possible sense. It's only about Facebook on a superficial level; really, it's about the people surrounding it, and you might as well have fictionalized the whole thing because of how well it works on every level. David Fincher really takes us on a journey, and it's every bit as engaging as a movie about stuff like this wouldn't be under a lesser director. It helps that it's supplied with an incredibly tight script that can be hilarious at one point and serious with the turn of a dime. Its sharp script could have floundered under a less skilled director, but David Fincher made everything work absolutely beautifully.

It's also helped by exceedingly great performances from its cast. Nobody really stands out in this cast, but that should be treated as a good thing on the principle that everybody did really well. I'll point out Justin Timberlake, seeing as how he's gone a long way from being the slightly annoying Artie from Shrek the Third: here he proves himself an actor capable of keeping up with everybody else around him, especially Eisenberg, who does everything right as Mark Zuckerberg. They were surrounded by what is easily the best ensemble cast I've seen in a long time. (Oh ,yeah, and Armie Hammer as twins? Incredible, not to mention that the apparent CGI face job was impossible to notice.)

I... It's tough to talk about The Social Network. It's that good. I'll just tell you now that it gets everything right, and it's extremely engaging as a result. The movie runs at two hours and one minute. By the time we reached the end, I actually felt the movie was too short, and yet if it went on longer it would've encroached on something. This I think is the mark of truly great film making, and it makes The Social Network one of the year's best movies.

4/4

A must-see picture of the year.

This is Herr Wozzeck Reviews. I'll see you guys next time.