It was inevitable, right? The minute The Social Network lost to The King’s Speech at the Oscars, and Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook continued their ascent in the culture and up the S&P 500, a sequel to one of the best films of all time was bound to happen. There were two big questions: what would be the story, and who would come back for it? All things considered The Social Reckoning is not a bad result for a sequel to a beloved movie. That doesn’t mean it’s Godfather Part II either.
After an icky opening, The Social Reckoning reveals its main story. No, not Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong in this one), who’s too busy prepping for Senate Hearings. No, this one’s about Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), a data scientist working for Facebook in 2018-2019. After watching her friend succumb to radicalization because of her company, Frances goes down a rabbit hole to figure out what Facebook did to cause it. And when she tries to ask about this and is met with cold shoulders and scared managers, she goes to the press. Wall Street Journal Tech reporter, the very analog Jeff Horowitz (Jeremy Allen White), whom Frances and the rest of Facebook was WARNED not to talk to…or face the consequences.
Let’s start with question 2, who would come back for The Social Reckoning. The writer, Aaron Sorkin, is back. That’s mostly a good thing: when it’s cookin, Sorkin dialogue walking and talking is some of the crackling best in the business. The problem is, he’s the only returner. Much of what made the Social Network special was David Fincher’s direction, as he and Sorkin kept each other from their worst impulses and brought out the best in the other. Fincher’s replaced by Aaron Sorkin, director, who is nowhere near the talent of Sorkin the writer. As such, the movie loses that special sauce, going for a more standard, but generic visual storytelling approach. More importantly, no one’s telling Aaron to dial back a bit, meaning his worst impulses like preachiness and oversimplification turn what could have been a morally complex tale into something much more black and white. Also gone is Jesse Eisenberg, swapped out for Jeremy Strong. Strong’s eerie imitation fits perfectly into this film, as mimicking human behavior closely only makes it more unsettling the more you sit with it, as if Strong plays Mark like Facebook’s algorithm itself.
Which bleeds us into question 1, what’s the story? Sorkin gets this right at least: he boldly sidelines Jeremy Strong’s Zuck to a weird room to argue with Wunmi Mosaku and Bill Burr while the real tale with Frances Haugen and Jeff Horowitz is going on under his nose. Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White acquit themselves well enough to Sorkinese to make The Social Reckoning as exciting as it can be. A lot of this movie is taking screenshots of documents and looking at laptops, which Madison and White do the best they can to make interesting, leaning into Horowitz being an analog luddite while Madison is the incredulous genius in denial of what she’s actually doing. Sorkin does a great job making Facebook a terrifying place to work if you don’t believe in the CEO; every interaction with Jeremy Strong is chilling and inhumane in deliciously evil ways. Sorkin goes for the grandiose a bit too often, building his big climaxes intercut with real world political events like Covid or the big finale surrounding January 6. As such, the movie bites off more than it can chew, and goes for the ham fisted sappy ending when Sorkin should read the room better and realize that his movie’s at war with itself.
It’s so funny watching The Social Reckoning while I’m actually studying for a data science masters. I do know a few people who talk and think like Mark Zuckerberg does in this movie, absolving themselves of what they’re doing so they can get the paycheck/lifestyle they want. I do wonder personally were I put in Frances Haugen’s shoes, would I have the courage to do the same thing she did? Thank you Frances, for rising to the occasion even though you had every incentive to keep you mouth shut in front of a tech tyrant. I know my writing is gonna get demoted, but I don’t care. That was some brave sh*t.