"I'm six-five, 220-pounds, and there are two of me."
Sorry for the tardiness of this post. Let's just say that I had a long month.
Let me start out by saying this. If you haven't seen the movie, listen to the soundtrack first. It is absolutely fitting and it is absolutely great. Remember John Williams and the little movie called Star Wars? Yeah. That great. If you don't agree to that statement because you're much of a Star Wars geek as I am, then remember John Powell and the little movies called The Bourne series? Yeah. That great. Listen to the soundtrack. It is worth it.
Granted, the movie does make you want to block the characters. All of them. From a super genius geek opportunist with self-esteem issues (Mark Zuckerberg), to ridiculously jealous and absolutely crazy Asian girl with more issues than I can name (Christy); the whole movie is about bunch of people that are just out to get each other and shows that MONEY is more important to my generation than friendship and loyalty.
Basically sue his ass if he broke your trust.
Written by Aaron Sorkin (West Wing) and directed by cult-loved David Fincher (Fight Club, Panic Room, Se7en, etc.), the movie was almost destined to be good, if not great. David Fincher knows how to create a setting and totally immerse viewers within it, and keep you there till the end of the movie. He is, after all, notoriously known to Hollywood actors and actresses as "that director that makes you do 60 to 80 takes per scene". Which of course... is crazy.
Synopsis... Based on a book called Accidental Billionaires, this film is about the creation of Facebook; a social networking website that half billions of people enjoy today. I remember Facebook when it was first introduced to University of Wahington. The exclusivity movie talks about so much was apparent and you actually felt superior to those who did not have it.
This dramatic version of Facebook's many lawsuits and the fantasy of how it all came about is, in itself, facinating to a lot of people. But I think the real interesting thing for me about this movie is that, this movie is a portrayal of the web 2.0 generation, also known as MY GENERATION.
This brings up a lot of questions. Almost every character in this movie is out for him/herself and will do whatever is necessary to get what they want. Also, they are way too sure of themselves and is willing to step on anyone to get to the next step. Oh and the worst part? They can't seem to shut up about themselves. I gotta be honest. In real life, I wouldn't be friends with any of these people. All of them think so highly of themselves, and do no realize the possibility of co-existing in any way that involves the obvious meaning of right and wrong.
The plot is simple in its core, which is a theme in all of the movies: human emotion + the concept of right vs. wrong. This movie shows the superficiality that is the internet. Without feeling and without a soul, the movie shows the viewers that when pushed to the brink, everyone is out for themselves. A sad truth about human beings, and apparently that is very much true to my generation.
Cheap thrills and fast success in this movie cannot possibly account for the personal hurt and the damages that the lawsuits does to these egotistic people. Their whole world is upside down because not everything went the way they thought it did, and quiet frankly, the only character that admitted defeat was Mark Zuckerberg, and why not... he had the money to settle.
Cast... Whooray for Jesse Eisenberg. He was haunted by people because he looked too much like Michael Cera for all these years. No More! Eisenberg stands on his two feet and exceeded my expectations. He definitely knows how to play the socially-awkward-guy-that-wants-a-girl thing. The fact that he creates the facemash because he was dumped by a girl was understandable, but keep going with facebook in order to impress her back was kind of a stretch. With all the character flaws aside, Eisenberg definitely is an acting force to be reckoned with, and I just hope he doesn't take himself too seriously... and do more movies like Zombieland, which I love.
Justin Timberlake, everyone. He is doing it all. More platinum records than I can remember, and now a mega-hit movie playing one hell of a creep? Good going, JT. He plays Sean Parker, the business mind behind Napster and served as president of facebook for a little bit until he was caught with heroin and was fired. I hear he still has ownership of some percentage of the company though... which means that he's still rich.
Other characters worth mentioning for me are the Winklevoss twins. They were hilarious. I sorta enjoyed the fact that these gigantic rowers got totally punked by a computer geek and couldn't really do anything about it. Played by Armie Hammer, they had another body-double play his twin brother, and digitally put Hammer's face onto the body. That poor bastard.
Lastly, WTF Brenda Song. Stop that shit and get back to Disney. Playing a crazy jealous bitch doesn't help anyone's career. Ew.
Director... Have to talk about David Fincher. I admire anyone willing to put Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box for Brad Pitt to see. He has done so many cult favorites, as well as big studio hits and flops. I like him because he knows how to paint a picture and knows how to tell a story. This may seem like an easy thing to do, but search around your group of friends for a second or two. You know the people that absolutely suck at telling stories. It's a gift.
The movie is very dialogue-heavy, thanks to Aaron Sorkin. In his defense, Sorkin doesn't know how to write any other way and he is brilliant at it. What is amazing, however, is that Fincher took the scenes that Sorkin had written up and made it seem exciting and dramatic, through music and editing. Watch the process of Zuckerberg making facemesh. He has to hack into servers in order to get all the pictures and names of all the Harvard students. I was amazed, since Fincher made that whole scene look like someone was breaking into a bank.
Awesome.
Conclusion... This movie made me hate facebook for a little bit. Don't know why. If this movie is at all a portrayal of my generation, then the future is a bit more gloomy. Also this movie taught me one really important thing. When going into business with your friends, know the downfall... possible lawsuit.
In the end, there was no good guy, bad guy in this movie. They were all kind of bad and you just felt pity on them. That's life, I guess...
I will watch again on DVD.
K.
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