David Fincher’s 2010 masterpiece The Social Network has only grown in stature in the 16 years since its release. Similarly, so has the company whose rise it chronicled and the ethical problems that company poses. Aaron Sorkin has returned with another story regarding Facebook and its creator, this time as both writer and director.
The Social Reckoning chronicles Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz’s (Jeremy Allen White) investigation into the machinations of Facebook after the social media network’s engineer Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) comes to his as a whistleblower with concerns over the company’s role in leading its users toward radicalizing content following founder Mark Zuckerberg’s (Jeremy Strong) decision to address an aging user base.
While the development of this film first billed it as a sort of sequel to the 2010 classic, The Social Reckoning is actually only connected to The Social Network through the presence of Zuckerberg and Facebook. Other than that similarity, the film is completely its own entity with new characters and actors, even for the social media creator himself. The story also differentiates itself as an investigative reporting drama instead of a biopic, playing more like a modern All The President’s Men. Unlike that film however, The Social Reckoning feels more like an extended episode of The West Wing than a strong cinematic experience.
White and Madison definitely work as an onscreen tandem, displaying some chemistry together as a pair reluctantly working together toward one end goal for differing reasons. It’s a believable working relationship that is effectively woven into the investigative piece involving Facebook’s algorithm and its effect on people. The plot feels less like a mystery being unraveled than a documentation of history and primer of technical expertise explaining a concept the audience is already familiar with, the radicalizing nature of social media.
The non-linear narrative structure, which fluctuates between the burgeoning investigation in 2019 and Zuckerberg preparing for congressional testimony in January 2021, attempts to establish the corporate malfeasance of Facebook as villainous but it’s time spent with the CEO as he debates the morality of his free speech stance with former Facebook investor Charlie Garrigan (Bill Burr) serving as the conscience of the film and audience stand-in rings hollow and comes across as more of a caricature than deep dive into his psyche and choices. There is barely any grey area presented and instead Zuckerberg is portrayed as a willful poor steward of a social apparatus that is clearly inducing harm, losing any nuance to make him a compelling antagonist. While this black-and-white tact doesn’t make The Social Reckoning a bad film, it does make for an experience that feels more thin and like a TV episode with a quick and straightforward conclusion than an in -depth cinematic story. Strong’s performance as Zuckerberg is also not much to write home about.
It is a shame because the topic of the film remains topical and unresolved in our current world as social media continues to drive social and political narratives and the addiction of the populace to these platforms continues to grow. Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White also perform well enough to make one wonder what heights they could’ve reached in a better film.
Image: Sony Pictures Releasing
