The Social Network opens today to rave reviews. I was lucky enough to see a sneak preview earlier this week thanks to Zaigham Zulqernain and Xavierpop.com.
Is the movie worth seeing? Absolutely. This is truly a great film that is both timeless and perfectly grounded in contemporary history. Is it for everyone? Probably. Here are three things you should know and one thing you shouldn’t before you pay your $12.
Three things you should know:
1) If you’re expecting an Oscar winner you will be disappointed. The film has Oscar buzz and will likely get a nomination, but it doesn’t have the gravitas films require to win the Best Picture statue. The closest anyone comes to dying is riding a zip line into a swimming pool.
2) If you’re a fan of Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing-style banter you won’t be disappointed. The movie opens with a prolonged exchange between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his soon to be ex-girlfriend that is as good or better than anything from The West Wing or Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
3) If you’re expecting a blow by blow history of how Facebook evolved and innovated into one of the world’s largest websites with 500-million active users you will be disappointed. This is a character-driven drama that focuses on the tensions between Zuckerberg and his associates during the site’s journey to one million users.
And one you shouldn’t (Spoiler alert):
1) If you go into the movie knowing that the Winklevoss twins are played by the same actor (Armie Hammer) you might be disappointed. I found myself thinking too much about the technicallity behind the Winklevoss scenes which took away from being correctly absorbed with the art of the film.
Keith McArthur 