This is a superbly made film with crisp editing, a riveting storyline, and excellent acting. I did not think the subject matter would hold my interest but it proved to be fascinating. This is the story of Mark Zuckerberg and his creating of Facebook, the internet phenomenon. It shows the ruthlessness of the dot com world, the theft, the betrayal, the genius, the arrogance, the vengeance, the whole karmic enchilada.

Interestingly enough, money is not necessarily the driver of all this, but rather the challenge of doing something no one has done before as well as keeping the cool factor. Of course one of the primary drivers is the young guy’s need to get laid. Needless to say this is the world of artisans, young socially inept artisans, too smart for their own good. The youthful Zuckerberg, the world’s youngest billionaire, like many of his cohorts, demonstrates the inability to read the situation he is in emotionally or to show concern about others. On the other hand, if the film is true to life, he appears to feel bad about his loss of his only friend, but his need to succeed and to win supersedes his regret.

Justin Timberlake, a mature artisan, is outstanding as the oily Sean Parker, the young soul creator of Napster, master manipulator, seducer, and ambitious game player.

What the movie does so well is reveal the underlying loneliness in Zuckerberg, a man who paradoxically has co created the world’s largest social networking site. The opening scene is an excellent depiction of a person caught in the intellectual part of intellectual center, a young artisan in dominance, with perseverance mode, a strong case of arrogance, and pragmatist in the extreme. Now imagine most of these in the negative poles and you have the story. Hopefully with time and maturity he will learn to use his considerable power in highly beneficial ways. This seems to be already happening considering his recent donations to education.