THE SOCIAL RECKONING \u2013 New Trailer (4K)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nPOSITIVES<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the sixteen years that have remarkably passed since David Fincher’s The Social Network became a decades best legal thriller, Facebook has gone from a convenient tool of communication to a misinforming means of stoking societal division, and while Fincher is no longer associated with this companion piece in the same world as its aforementioned predecessor, it does maintain the original’s screenwriter in Aaron Sorkin, who fearlessly delves into some of the networking app’s darker and more dire battles in the public eye. Covering a two year period pertaining to not only Haugen’s reveal of its deliberately shady practices, but also the tragic events that took shape in a rebellion on January 6th, 2021, long gone is the optimism and positivity of technological advancements shaping an ambitious world, traded in for a scathingly unabashed narrative dissection that points the finger where it rightfully should be pointed, in order to render the sociopathic tendencies of Mark Zuckerberg at his most unflinching and unphased. As a result, the film is understandably nowhere in the same stratosphere entertainingly or compellingly as its predecessor, but it does uncover some fascinatingly disturbing components in the approach of the app’s enhancing motivations, that serve as a cautionary tale for those spending so much screentime indulging in its transformative material, all the while treating us to more of Sorkin’s one-of-a-kind rhythmic dialogue patter effectively bringing so many of these conversations to life with personality and profoundness. While Sorkin’s storytelling and screenplay are far from perfect, with its unconventional structure intruding upon audience investments more than indulging them, there’s still proof to the proverbial pudding that he’s still on top of crafting cinematics to such a dialogue-heavy kind of engagement, particularly during those depositional sequences between Zuckerberg and a once trusted advisor (Portrayed by comedian Bill Burr), which are among the rare examples of the movie garnering the same edginess derived from the original movie. Burr in particular brings to life the aggressive conflictions of Sorkin’s signature style, where his bouncing off of the primarily focused character elevates the offensive onslaughts that bounce seamlessly from the tech trillionaire intentionally, with so much of their counteractive dynamic enacting a much-needed boost of tenacity to the movie’s overall appeal, allowing that section of the narrative to stand out a bit more endearingly for me than the one that dedicates an overwhelming majority of its focus to the awkward chemistry emitted between Frances and Jeff. To be totally honest, it’s not the easiest cinematic engagement to get through, as a result of some detracting components that I will eventually articulate, however it does find an advantageous groove during a third act climax that finally imbeds stakes and tension to the integrity of the experience, allowing the film to appraise an emphasized bang to the lasting impacts of the film, which sifts through one of the darkest days in this country’s existence. Whether or not you believe that Facebook had a hand in stoking the fuels of the masses’ fire on that fateful day, Sorkin builds towards it as the distinguishable impact manifested from such spewing hatred and geriatric angst, offering an introspective reflection of detached isolation, bound by misinformation and paranoia from the uneducated. On top of everything previously praised, the performances are admittedly a mixed bag, but Mikey Madison is undoubtedly the most meaningful component of this decorated ensemble, serving up her return to the silver screen after winning Oscar’s gold in 2024’s Anora. Between the two films, Madison radiates an expressive dexterity that cements her status as one of the generation’s most versatile actresses, where the stuffily shy sensibilities of Haugen’s documented demeanor are seamlessly brought to life with Mikey’s cold and clammy commitment to transformation, affording her an against-type kind of dazzling portrayal that legitimizes so much of what Sorkin is attempting here. Likewise, Jeremy Strong’s stoically-specific portrayal of the Meta CEO has certainly drawn a sharp line in the sand between some audiences who find it intentionally unsettling, as well as others who find it crossing into caricature, and while I understand both sides of these arguments, I found his portrayal to boldly emulate the deliberate robotic monotony of Zuckerberg’s cantankerously dry deliveries, feeling like the next logical step in the corrupted progression from Jesse Eisenberg’s Oscar-nominated performance, with a coldly condescending tone that never grows any easier to settle in with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEGATIVES<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without question, the single most difficult obstacle that audiences will face in approaching The Social Reckoning is the unavoidable desire to compare it to its predecessor, and in that regard there’s so much overwhelming inferiority to the film’s execution, that inscribes a lot of adversity to overcome, particularly in Sorkin’s inconsistent direction failing to muster the grittily edgy highs of Fincher’s original direction. Sorkin simply feels overwhelmed and out of his element in the director’s chair, as no semblance of stylistic substance to the movie’s presentation, nor manifested momentum from PowerPoint storytelling within a flimsy structure, allows the film to find comfortability and patience in what it’s exploiting, leaving audiences overwhelmed by a repetitious outline that grows tediously exhausting as quickly as the opening act. In delving back into that perilous framing device, the film constantly deviates back and forth between 2019 and 2021, until the former catches up to the latter, and while it’s certainly not the first film to attempt such a multi-lateral means of storytelling, it is further made sloppily audacious by an extending chaptered tiering, that leaves the pacing constantly grinding to a screeching halt from so much constant halting, especially because the device never shakes the on-screen text that constantly conveys whenever the story switches back to the previous year, an aspect made easy in itself by understanding early on that Jeff and Frances belong in 2019, and Mark Zuckerberg belongs in 2021. As a result, Sorkin fails to find a comfortable consistency that maximizes tension throughout the movie’s first two acts, with much of his comedic dependency during tonal elasticity failing humiliatingly, on account of the actors never feeling confident in their deliveries, but even if his direction was equal or better than Fincher’s, it would nevertheless be plundered by blandly mundane production values, that are the single loudest inferiority from its predecessor, specifically Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ scintillating score breathing enveloping dread to what is essentially finance talk. While the great Alexandre Desplat takes over the reigns here from the dynamic duo, he hands in what is easily one of his most forgettable scores in his prestigious career, featuring the most on-the-nose and monotonous kind of stock instrumentals that fail to muster any semblance of enticing atmosphere to what we’re audibly interpreting. Considering the score of the previous film felt like a character of its own within that movie, the drearily drabby themes here underscore so much of the exploratory complexity of its biggest scenes, surmising assorted instrumentals that could adorn any movie, and essentially come from any composer, let alone one with two Academy Award wins stemming from twelve nominations. The textural tapestry also leaves plenty more to be desired in the ways that scenes are lit and shot from cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, with some sequences involving Jeff and Frances in an apartment building conjuring soap opera tangibility in the most unflattering ways. While Jeff utilizes a dark color pallet and ambient lighting to emphasize the film’s themes of isolation and corporate secrecy, there’s very little ambitiously about the camera movements or editing techniques that make the most of its many locations, leaving a noticeably lasting decreasing quality that leaves so much about Sorkin’s direction feeling uninfluential to the specificity of his appeal. Finally, while the movie ends on a bit of a triumphant note of inspirationally overcoming adversity, its assuming clumsiness over the distortion of the facts leave this resolution feeling a bit tone-deaf to the integrity of its enacting, specifically in the lack of impactful influence that it has over an impenetrable trillionaire who essentially makes and breaks laws as he sees fit. Considering it’s documented in the public eye, it’s not exactly a spoiler to convey that Haugen is ultimately victorious in her uncovering of Facebook, however the character’s articulating of a particular feel-good moment leaves it feeling a bit factually inauthentic to the realities in the lack of change that was ultimately inflicted from it, leaving the film extraneously reaching for a sentimental ending that was a bit unearned to anyone with even miniscule knowledge of the details, especially after the tragedy that befell the nation from January 6th, merely a scene before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OVERALL
The Social Reckoning proves that imitation might not always be the most sincerest form of flattery, as everything about this inconsistent companion piece of a loose sequel evokes inferiority from its finished product, leaving it reveling in the confines of a massive shadow, the likes of which feels too big and influential to effectively shake. While Aaron Sorkin’s talents are better paid to dialogue over direction, the film conjures a stirring journalistic journey about morality that doesn’t always go down smooth or satisfying, requiring a lot of heavy lifting in the prominent performances from Mikey Madison and Jeremy Strong, injecting heart to a hollow core that keeps beating despite David Fincher’s costly absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My Grade: 6.1 or C<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Directed By Aaron Sorkin Starring – Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison, Jeremy Strong The Plot – A companion piece to the hit film, The Social Network, Sorkin’s original screenplay tells the true story of how Frances Haugen (Madison), a young Facebook engineer, enlists the help of Jeff Horwitz (White), a Wall Street Journal reporter, to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9968,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966\/revisions\/9968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}