The Social Network - review

"The 'Citizen Kane' for the 21st Century, David Fincher's opus about the creation of Facebook is a master class in snappy scripting, intelligent acting and striking cinematography.

The hype…
Facebook is not just a website, it’s not even just a media powerhouse; it’s a tool that has changed the way a generation interacts. This is the story of its creation, and the real-life relationships it destroyed in the process.

The story…
When Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) gets dumped by his girlfriend he heads back to his dorm, is comforted by his best friend Eduardo Savarin (Andrew Garfield), and begins a drunken online rampage that launches a chain of events which will ultimately lead to the creation of an online empire.

The trouble is that along the way, Zuckerberg succeeds not only in creating a life-changing social network, but in inciting several serious lawsuits and alienating just about everyone who gets close to him. This is his story, and the story of the personal and legal storm that surrounded the turbulent birth of Facebook.

The breakdown…
To call 'The Social Network' this generation's 'Citizen Kane' might seem both hyperbolic and a little premature, but there are some striking similarities between the two stories and the way their directors go about telling them.

In terms of the story, the comparison is an obvious one: both Zuckerberg and Kane worked from very little to build up a media empire that would reach an audience of exceptional size. Add to this their common inability to identify with those around them, and their acrimonious business disputes and you have a pair of media moguls whose worlds don't seem as far apart as the years that separate them.

The scripts of the two tales also carry many similar elements. Like that of Welles and Mankiewicz in 'Citizen Kane', the dialogue penned by Ben Mezrich in his book and adapted by Aaron Sorkin (of 'West Wing' and 'A Few Good Men' fame) cracks and fizzles with wit and intellect as it powers its way through this tale of intrigue and betrayal. The quick-fire pace of the story mirrors the meteoric rise of Zuckerberg, and those around him who contributed to various (and heavily disputed) degrees and drives a narrative that could so easily have gotten bogged down in pitfalls as dangerous and diverse as humdrum legalities and emotional cliché.

The visual flair of both 'Citizen Kane' and 'The Social Network' are also undeniable. The latter may not be quite such a pioneer in the field of cinema, but Fincher packs in shot after shot of luxuriously vibrant cinematography he exhibited in 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' but with far fewer of the indulgent long takes. The result is a constantly shifting tapestry of intelligent and powerful shots that imbue the tale with an inescapable aura of energy and meaning.

A final word must be said on the acting, for while Jesse Eisenberg may not have matched the virtuosic performance of Welles in his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg, he does an outstanding job in the thankless task of playing the brilliant but also devious and thoughtless character of the Facebook founder. And Eisenberg is supported by a stellar cast including Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield and Rooney Mara, none of whom put a single foot wrong in the whole film.

The verdict…
Bristling with wit, intelligence, visual energy, and packed with fantastic performances and stunning cinematography, 'The Social Network' is a brilliant tale of the formation of a media phenomenon that has defined a generation."