David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin are two of the most reliable names working in the film business today, so it comes as no surprise that their first collaboration is a triumphant one. The Social Network is the tale of a man filled with ego, cynicism and jealousy. And also genius and ambition. Mark Zuckerberg (played here by Jesse Eisenberg) isn’t someone you may sympathize with or come away feeling terribly bad for at the end of the day, but you do empathize with his lonely and isolated life.
Oddly, one of The Social Network‘s biggest strengths is also it’s only great flaw: emotionally, it’s not incredibly affective. It’s a strength because it perfectly reflects both Facebook and Zuckerberg and our Internet culture, but it’s a weakness for the obvious reason: why should we care about these people? They’re most importantly interesting and engaging, but not in an emotional way. In the film’s final moment, you don’t feel great empathy for Zuckerberg. You do empathize with him in a minor way, but not on the monumental level the film seems to want you to. The last scene perfectly incapsulates who Zuckerberg is and what he’s done to himself, but there’s very little emotion to grab onto and come away with.
Many have been coining Zuckerberg as this generation’s “anti-hero,” and there’s a lot of truth to that statement. Zuckerberg is not portrayed in the best light, nor is his accomplishment – creating Facebook (or stealing it, how ever you wanna read into it). He’s created a form of social networking that shares/spreads his social coldness. His main motivation isn’t to start this groundbreaking social network that changes the way people communicate, but rather to get revenge. Revenge for not being loved.
This is Sorkin at his most unrelenting. Nearly every line of dialogue and exchange brings a smile to one’s face. He has taken a story on paper that could’ve easily been boring in stretches (there’s a lot of scenes of Zuckerberg and co. typing in the style of Swordfish), but it couldn’t be more exciting to watch. Whenever Zuckerberg is on the prowl, it feels like an action set piece. It’s riveting to watch. When characters exchange banter, it’s music to the ears. Here, action is dialogue in every sense of the expression.
Nothing about Sorkin’s script is black and white. He uses a Rashomon-esque style of POV-storytelling to explore every side of origin of the Web site. Nearly anyone portrayed here could be interpreted as either likable or disdainful from one scene to the next. No one is played as a straight villain, the slime and greed-filled Sean Parker (Justin Timberklake) notwithstanding. The only ones here who come off looking respectable are Zuckerberg’s only (now former) friend in Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) and the Winklevoss twins (both played by Armie Hammer, thanks to impressive face-graph technology). The three of them are genuinely good people, unlike Parker.
The Social Network is both current and thought-provoking, and also surprisingly hilarious. It’s certainly Fincher’s funniest piece of work since Fight Club. After coming out of this world of lies and betrayal, you may walk away wanting more, but Fincher’s latest proves to be another accomplishment for an already-accomplished auteur.