“The Social Network” a movie for a new generation

“The Social Network” opens today and is nothing short of a satisfying movie experience. Academy Award nominated director David Fincher (“Fight Club,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Se7en”) does a fantastic job as always with the story of the youngest billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of the extremely popular social networking-site, Facebook. It is based on the novel “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich and adapted by Aaron Sorkin (“A Few Good Men”). It focuses on the beginnings of the project in 2003, when Zuckerberg created Facebook from his dorm room as a sophomore at Harvard University, and the legal dispute between all that were involved one way or another.

The acting is spot-on with Jesse Eisenberg (“Zombieland,” “The Squid and the Whale”) playing Zuckerberg and Andrew Garfield (“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “Never Let Me Go”) as co-founder and best friend Eduardo Saverin. Justin Timberlake plays Napster founder, Sean Parker, who aids in the Facebook expansion process. The story is factually sound with what actually happened, and the dialogue is clever, hilarious and extremely dramatic at different points of the film. Eisenberg gives an accurate portrayal of how Zuckerberg acts — especially linguistically. The real Zuckerberg is said to talk like a computer instant messenger.

Zuckerberg is also portrayed as a kind of anti-hero throughout most of the film, and a cynical character that is hurtful to others. Zuckerberg has admitted to being like that back then, but no longer — he has said he has matured and learned a lot since then.

The film’s soundtrack was composed by the leading man of Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, with the help of Atticus Ross, who is the producer of most Nine Inch Nails albums (along with influencing the music.) The score gives the film a thriller-esque style and is extremely fitting for the mood of every given situation that occurs. There are also other classic songs that are very appropriately placed throughout the film.

Fincher said that he wanted to make a modern-day John Hughes film, and he definitely succeeded in that task. When one thinks John Hughes, “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles” come to mind. The times have changed, and so has the type of Hughes “teen” genre film — today’s time is all about Facebook and the experience of college being on the internet. Peter Travers from Rolling Stone Magazine calls it “the movie of the year that also brilliantly defines the decade.” After the movie is over, it is unlikely for one to disagree with that.

All the elements of the film: acting, music, writing, and directing lead to a good time at the movies and possibly the Academy Awards next year. It is relevant to the time to have a film such as this to define the first decade of the 21st century and when it is done well, that’s all one can ask for in a movie.