My review of "The Social Network" (2010)

Being a frequent and admittedly addicted Facebook user, The Social Network was on my "need to watch" list for a while, and I finally got around to watching it. The movie is a dramatized documentary on Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) and his struggle to create and maintain Facebook, a social network that is massively popular worldwide and has grossed over 25 billion dollars. The struggle he faces is that he is sued by his best friend and co-founder of Facebook Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield), and fellow Harvard students Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (played by Armie Hammer) who claims Zuckerberg stole their idea. He is also faced with multiple design pressures by the creator of Napster, Sean Parker. (played by Justin Timberlake) Mark has difficulty deciding whether to follow the business pursuits of Eduardo or Sean. The film is very compelling, emotional, and full of great moments. I especially liked Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal of Zuckerberg. He's nerdy, antisocial, and most importantly a genius. one of my favorite performances ever. I also loved Andrew Garfield's performance. You really felt for him when tragedy overcame him. The cinematography is excellent. Every shot looks official and cool. It was a nice touch that most of the background music was 8-bit. It was a strange inclusion, but I assume it had to do with Zuckerberg's attachment to computers. It was, to say at the least, a pleasant surprise. The only things I really disliked about the movie was rowing in the Olympics scene, and the ending. The rowing scene just felt out of place and it looked fake too. They could've just cut to them losing the race and the story would be exactly the same. And the ending was bad per-say, but it felt a bit rushed. It also didn't really wrap up the trials in my opinion. But aside from those points, the rest of the movie is phenomenal. Justin Timberlake did a great job as the "villain" if you will. The club scene with Mark and Sean is iconic. Same with Eduardo smashing Mark's computer. If you're a fan of Facebook, this movie might not be what you expect, but in a good way.

- Eamon