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| failbook CAN succeed. |
That's how I convinced myself to actually see Facebook's two hour+ origin saga in theaters. I honestly had zero interest in the subject. As far as I was concerned Facebook was just the new Myspace, which defeated Friendster and LiveJournal before them, another here today gone tomorrow site, meant for trolling, spying, drunk girl pics...and keeping in touch with people you don't care enough to talk with IRL.
So David Fincher, the dude who warped my fragile eleven year old mind after watching Seven on loop all day (thanks to the wonders of 90's illegal pay-per-view/black box piracy), whose Fight Club served as The New Testament for the frustrated teenage geeks of my generation and whose Zodiac so drastically engrossed every fiber of my being I forgot to study for a big final exam and...well yeah; his newest project was about facebook. Was I excited? NO. Will I force myself to watch anything David Fincher directs? YES.
Low and behold, the movie is amazing. From the opening scene on, which highlights Aaron Sorkin's brilliant, rapid fire dialogue, I was hooked. With movies like this, based on factual real life occurrences, the plot is almost irrelevant in some respects. We all know the Titanic will sink in the end. Mark Zuckerberg is the genius/asshole who created facebook and got filthy rich doing it. No surprises here folks. It's Fincher's cinematic craftiness that shrines through however and makes The Social Network one of the most gripping films of the year. No nudity, no guns, no violence, just great performances (amazing casting as far as I'm concerned, and Arnie Hammer steals the show playing BOTH Winklevoss twins), Trent Reznor's haunting musical score and superb storytelling. Kudos to Fincher, Sorkin and everyone involved with this film for breathing such life into what could have been (and I assumed to be) a boring ass movie about the origins of Facebook. Instead we get a poignant tale of loneliness, alienation, and the ills of modern high tech society. Stuff all us John Doe & Tyler Durden disciples dig you know?
Is this my favorite David Fincher flick? No way. Is it my favorite film of the year. Definitely not. Is it a damn good movie worth seeing. YES.
