The first reviews are out for Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning,” and the result is… well, it’s certainly no “The Social Network”.
With 42 reviews counted, the title sits at 70% on Rotten Tomatoes with a pretty underwhelming 6.4/10 average score. The verdict is worse on Metacritic where the film has landed a decidedly ordinary 52/100.
That’s not as bad as last week’s “Digger” or “Verity” which scored in the mid-40s on Metacritic, but it’s not far off. Most of the criticism is less about Sorkin’s writing than it is about his directing and general complaints that the film has the look & feel of a direct-to-streaming affair.
Here’s a sampling of reviews:
“The greatest flaw of The Social Reckoning is that David Fincher isn’t directing, but its greatest strength is Sorkin’s script, which the writer directs with greater competence and energy than earlier behind-the-camera efforts.” – Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict
“Jeremy Strong’s vision of (Zuckerberg) as a smart and cunning but tense, brittle man with zero emotional intelligence and about as much empathy as a saltwater crocodile is going to really rattle his gilded cage.” – Vary Darling, Houston Chronicle
“With “The Social Reckoning,” his writing turns what could be a dry, procedural story with a shadow of light espionage into something much more entertaining and, perhaps unexpectedly, funny.” – Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
“While [Sorkin’s] penchant for conflict and discovery is a winning match for a biographical thriller, his affinity for classical Hollywood storytelling is so off-key for this moment as to feel tone-deaf.” – Kent M. Wilhelm, The Film Stage
“Escaping the long shadow of The Social Network was always going to be a difficult task for this film, and in a direct comparison, there’s no question it comes up short.” – Josh Parham, Awards Watch
“The problem is, you can’t set out to write an Important Movie, and Sorkin doesn’t seem willing to leave that judgment to the masses. It tells an important story, but without any of the verve that made Fincher’s film stand the test of time.” – Brett Arnold, Yahoo
“Seemingly everything that went right with “The Social Network” goes wrong here, resulting in a forgettable, clunky film.” – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
“By the time ‘The Social Reckoning’ reaches its inevitable conclusion, we’re forced to wonder if Aaron Sorkin knows what the word ‘reckoning’ means.” – William Bibbiani, The Wrap
“The Social Reckoning” is rated R, runs for 112 minutes and opens in cinemas on Friday.
