The Social Network (2010)

A wise man once said that the path to success is never easy, and seldom few ever imagine that a single idea could ever escalate to becoming a global phenomenon. What was originally intended to be a Harvard University social network for various college students to keep in touch with their friends online, soon escalated into something bigger than even it's creator ever could have hoped for. Currently, Facebook is the largest online network today, as it continues to overshadow it's competitors like Myspace, Friendster, and others. Indeed, when it comes to innovation of what a social network potentially could be, there's little doubt that Facebook is the definitive leader. However, who is the man behind arguably this generation's greatest innovation?

For that matter, what kind of man is he? Is he an honest man? A smart man that suddenly came up with a great idea that revolutionized the way social networking is handled today? Or is he just some Harvard schmuck that got lucky? Perhaps, we'll never know for sure, but "The Social Network" chronicles the life such a controversial figure. As the movie is quick to point out in it's promos, "You don't get to five hundred million friends, without making a few enemies."

Based off the life of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), a Harvard student struggling to fit in. At the beginning of the film, he gets dumped by his girl friend over some harsh insinuations over her character, due to a misunderstanding. This later prompts Mark to not only blog about her on the internet site he creates called "Facemash", he does so by hacking into Harvard's main data base and hijacking their system through the internet. From there, he steals and collects data on every student without consent, and posts his blog on the web. He even goes as far as to compare women to animals, as guys are shown various photos of different Harvard college girls, and they pick who is the hottest out of all the girls they see. Needless to say, this not only gets Mark into a lot of trouble with the heads of Harvard University, it also gets a lot of attention from a lot of other people as well.

One of the main fraternities, at Harvard, particularly notices this, as they approach Mark Zuckerberg with an idea of creating a online social network; exclusively for Harvard students. Although Mark said he'd think about helping them with their proposal, this prompts him to wonder how he could possibly create a better social network that vastly exceeds over what's been done before on Myspace, Friendster, or any other site. It's from here that he decides to go on a joint venture with his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), to create a social networking site called "thefacebook.com", at the time. Needless to say, this doesn't exactly make the fraternity that approached Mark about their idea very happy, as they feel Mark might have allegedly stolen it from them.

However, none of this bothers Mark at all, until things get really out of hand, when he starts to grow apart from his best friend. As it seems, former CEO and founder of Napster, Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), influences Mark to take "the facebook" in an entirely different direction. Preaching to Mark how society will criticize him for his innovative idea. He even tells him that this site is not only a great way to becoming a billionaire, but it's also a form of rebellion. A way to say "screw you" to the masses that shunned him; particularly to the girl that left him. Indeed, Mark becomes seduced by this notion that Sean Parker presents, as it eventually leads to him to become arguably this centuries most prominent and successful figures in history. And to think, it all started when Sean said, "You know what..drop 'the' and call it just 'facebook." But, at what cost? During his whole ordeal he made a lot of enemies and even financially screwed over his best friend. Was becoming a billionaire founder of a popular social network worth it?

Some might say it was considering the end result was a huge financial fortune, but was it truly worth making a lot of enemies along the way? As a wise man once said, the path to success is never easy, nor will it always be well received. However, there's no disputing the results of Mark Zuckerberg's innovative idea.

Although publicly founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, denies that most of this movie is based on the reality of his life, that still doesn't diminish how powerful this movie is. Unlike most biographical films where it's often biased one way or another towards the figure it's presenting, "The Social Network" is refreshingly unbiased if anything. Presenting a unique story about one man's rise to fame, and how he gets caught up with his success.

What I love most about this movie is that it can interpreted in various ways. One, a person could view this movie and think that Mark is a complete jerk that ditches all his friends, in favor of money and wealth. While the other perception could be that he's just a man that's deeply misunderstood. A man that wasn't trying to be a jerk, but rather he was just trying to promote an innovative idea to the best of his ability while yearning for acceptance in society. Particularly by that one girl, whom he shunned at the beginning. Whether this story is hundred percent faithful to Mark's life or not, you can't help but like this movie, as the story grabs your attention right from the start and never lets you go. Taking you on a emotional rush that will leave you laughing one moment and sad the next, while leaving audiences clamoring for more. "The Social Network" truly is one of best films of the year by far.

Featuring great performances by Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake. Yes, I did just say Justin Timberlake, as he proves that there's more to him than just a pretty smile, and the boy band type persona that often gets associated with him. Lately though, he's been distancing himself from that image with more adult themed lyrics and songs like "D*** in a box", and it seems, in "The Social Network", he establishes himself as a quality actor. An actor capable of so much range, as I was highly impressed by his performance from this movie, as he plays the fast talking computer whiz like nobodies business. Andrew Garfield also does a wonderful job playing the best friend that tries to stand by Mark, but soon finds himself resenting him, as the audience could almost feel Eduardo's hatred for Mark.

Jesse Eisenberg pulls off the socially inept and highly intelligent genius to perfection, as his performance will allow audiences that even feel Mark screwed over a lot of people, to still feel empathy for his character. Realizing that he's ultimately a human being. A man that just wants belong and be accepted in life. Something that "The Social Network" captures beautifully.

Overall, I can't say enough good things about this movie, as it's simply a masterpiece. Outside of "Inception" and "Shutter Island", I would have to give this film a solid four out of four. It's literally that freaking good, as I fail to find anything remotely wrong with this movie. Sure, it's about two and a half hours long, but the movie is so entertaining that you'll barely even notice it. I highly recommend it for anyone that loves movies, as this is by far one of the best biographical films that I've ever had the honor of seeing.