The Social Reckoning (15)

A famous line in 2010’s The Social Network was “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.” This film starts by telling us that Facebook is now worth a trillion dollars.

Set a decade after the close of The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin picks up with the story of data scientist turned whistleblower Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison). Haugen leaked documents in 2021 that proved Facebook was actively participating in the spread of misinformation regarding Covid and global politics, promoting hate groups and targeting vulnerable teenagers through advertising. The dramatisation of Haugen

working with investigative journalist Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) in 2019/20 is set against Mark Zuckerberg (now played by Jeremy Strong) in early 2021, preparing to testify in front of congress regarding social media’s role in spreading misinformation with coaching from crisis publicist Raya (Wunmi Mosaku).

Reckoning does lack that magic touch that David Fincher so effortlessly weaved throughout his masterpiece, yet Sorkin’s whip-smart script and razor-sharp dialogue still cuts through the screen with precision. The result is a drama that rattles along at an entertaining clip.