The Social Network

I'm not at all surprised by Mark Zuckerberg's decision to remain distant from the David Fincher-directed biopic The Social Network. The film paints the Facebook creator in such a way that he comes across as a not very approachable individual, his inflated ego and nerdy arrogance almost as large as his fast-thinking brain. He's a genius no doubt, but a socially uncomfortable one. Whether or not the real billionaire is like this or not, I honestly don't know, nor do I truly care. He's a fascinating main character in a fascinating film, and that's all I really need and want to know.

David Fincher's stylish drama is the true story of the founding of Facebook, the increasingly popular website in which 500 million people can connect with each other through the click of a computer mouse and post messages about the daily goings-on in their lives. And look after pixelated sheep in FarmVille. Based on Ben Mezrich's non-fiction book The Accidental Billionaires, it is a marvellously crafted character study that will be remembered for many years to come, looked back on in esteemed admiration.

The opening scene, set in 2003, depicts Harvard student Zuckerberg (played effortlessly by Jesse Eisenberg), 19 years old, being dumped by his girlfriend, Erica Albright (A Nightmare on Elm Street's Rooney Mara), following what is more a battle of wits to Mark than a regular conversation. After being called an asshole, an intoxicated Mark retreats to his dorm room, switches on his laptop and bitterly rants in his blog about what just happened, calling Erica a bitch and mocking her family name. She'll come around once reading this, I suppose.

Being the outcast that he is, the super-nerd is then inspired to hack into the Harvard database to steal pictures of female undergraduates and create a website, Facemash, in which the girls are rated for their attractiveness. The site's extraordinary overnight popularity - which crashes servers - catches the attention of Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (both portrayed by Armie Hammer, with Josh Pence as a body double), who ask for his help in creating a site called Harvard Connection.

He initially agrees to be the programmer, but ends up avoiding the two brothers, working with his best friend and roommate, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), in developing theFacebook, Mark's idea for a new social networking site. With the project growing and growing, eventually becoming worldwide, Mark finds himself in the middle of two multi-million-dollar lawsuits, his personal relationships teetering toward destruction.

The film is perfectly intertwined with both the early and later stages of Facebook's development and the court hearings Mark is attending alongside Eduardo and the Winklevoss twins. Flawlessly paced and intricately structured, The Social Network is captivating right from the crowd noise playing over the Columbia logo to the poignant and thought-provoking end scene.

Don't be put off by the subject matter at hand; the movie is not "Facebook: The Internet Motion Picture", but is instead a timely tale of greed, jealousy and ambition. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) has opted to not make this a film glamorising Facebook (the site barely even features), but a film about two friends torn apart by business, their differing visions leading to the downfall of their relationship.

Despite uploading beautiful imagery into the movie's exquisitely designed profile, masterful filmmaker David Fincher (Zodiac, Se7en) is more restrained than usual, rightfully stepping out of the bright, shining spotlight to let Sorkin's pitch-perfect writing splendidly work its magic. Sorkin displays some Oscar-worthy material here, his deftly playful script acting as the ever-beating heart of The Social Network's body, coating the film with hard-hitting drama as well as LOL-inspiring humour. His script is both funny and moving, succeeding in creating striking characters from the real-life entrepreneurs.

In Zuckerberg, Sorkin has shaped a unique, quick-witted character who thinks primarily in 1s and 0s, his personality more robot-like than emotive, an element which makes him a heck of a lot more intriguing than he should be. With Eisenberg in the role, Zuckerberg is a remarkable creature who's a nerd without being a stereotype; a calculating, seemingly cold-hearted but enchanting machine that never shuts down and never shuts up once opening his smart-assed mouth; and I am more than happy to listen to every titillating word to jump off his tongue.

We are at doubt as to whether or not we should be rooting for him; Sorkin presents us with a character who is an overtly ambitious asshole, but such a well written one that you can't help but love him. His best friend, played by future Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, is more of the socially adept kind; he is friendly and boyish, Garfield showing off his acting chops as an intelligent, but non-geeky tech-head.

Coming in half-way through the film, Justin Timberlake plays Sean Parker, the inventor of music-sharing service Napster and helper of getting Facebook set up. He's a smirking, charismatic wild horse with aspects of paranoia, Timberlake perfectly cast as the party boy who Mark sees eye-to-eye with.

As our two sibling antagonists, Hammer is spectacular, eloquently pulling off two roles who are on-screen at the same time. Self-proclaimed "gentlemen of Harvard", they become jealous of Mark's success, planning on suing him for allegedly stealing their idea. They're both avid oarsmen, their talents shown off in a gorgeously shot sporting scene which contains Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' remix of Edvard Grieg’s "In The Hall of The Mountain King".

Speaking of music, the soundtrack is bloody brilliant. Electronic and moody, Reznor (who you may know from Nine Inch Nails) and Ross' score nails (heh heh) the atmosphere of each scene, from a dark, intimidating nature to a more light and breezy territory. Fabulous stuff.

You could spend hours arguing about whether or not certain "facts" we are presented did actually happen as they are portrayed, but Sorkin's script is nonetheless the work of gods. Not just a film for internet dweebs, David Fincher's The Social Network is an era-defining masterpiece very much deserving of some naked, golden statuettes. I didn't just like this. I loved it.

10/10