The Social Reckoning Review
A cheap imitation of the first film, with none of the biting cut through.
Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) works for Facebook. She’s a diehard supporter of the platform’s ideals, but she sees people being radicalised by the algorithms being employed. She reaches out to investigative reporter Jeff Horowitz (Jeremy Allen White) and together they start to develop a suite of reported stories that become the Facebook Files. Years later, as these stories come to the fore, Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) prepares for a Congressional hearing as the January 6th riots kick off.
The Social Reckoning is the long-awaited, much mooted sequel to the Oscar juggernaut The Social Network. Whereas the first was only written by prolific screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, this film is both written and directed by the man. And let us say off the bat; the presence of David Fincher is sorely missed.
The Social Reckoning admittedly deals with a different topic. This isn’t the start of the beast, this is a journalist tale about revealing what seems like a fairly middling revelation set to the backdrop of the Jan 6 Capitol Riots wrapped up to try and look like more. It’s a movie that feels closer to The Post than to The Social Network.
And that’s a problem. Because as a journalism piece, it’s pretty standard and boring. There’s little in the way of revelations. Perhaps it feels like that because the film tackles such recent history, but it just has a constant and pervasive sense of not really mattering.
Then there are the two lead characters. Madison and White do their best, but the material is paced in a way that feels so un-Sorkin-like, and at the same time very much too-Sorkin-like. Every interaction feels like a cliche. By the end, it becomes incredibly grating; them talking over each other before her hearing, her ending the film with a fist pump. It’s like watching ‘my first movie’, but with none of the charm or ingenuity of a novice.
It also looks terrible. The Social Network benefited from Fincher’s meticulous eye, from a distinct colour palette that felt clinical but also new; that matched the mood of the piece. This feels like any other prestige drama; too well lit, too well framed (but also, not well framed enough) to have any real impact.
There are a few highlights. Bill Burr is a fun addition, and holds his own in a role that demands more from him than we’ve perhaps seen before. And Jeremy Strong does a fantastic Zuckerberg impression. But they are sidelined (as is the Jan 6 plot) in favour of a sub-par journalist story, that reeks of will they-won’t they without ever really going there.
To tackle a sequel, you’d have been hoping they had something to say. Ultimately, it’s not that they don’t have something to say; it’s that what their saying just doesn’t amount to much.
