Director: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin, Billy Magnussen, Bill Burr, Jeremy Strong
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 112 mins

A follow-up to The Social Network, The Social Reckoning is a legal thriller that dramatises the 2021 Facebook leak by whistleblower Frances Haugen. It’s once again written by Aaron Sorkin, who also steps into the director’s chair, replacing David Fincher. While Sorkin’s a fine writer, he’s got a chequered history as a director – Molly’s Game was fine, The Trial of the Chicago 7 was very solid, but Being The Ricardos was terrible. Jeremy Strong replaces Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, and the cast is lead by Anora‘s Mikey Madison as the whistleblower and Jeremy Allen White as Jeff Horwitz, the Wall Street Journal investigative journalist Frances talks to.

My expectations were low for The Social Reckoning and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this follow-up. It’s a completely different film to its predecessor, and the best way to consider this is as a companion piece – this leans far more into being a legal thriller than the original’s biographical drama framing. Sorkin spins a gripping yarn out of the fascinating data leak, and while the film would have been more timely if it had released a couple of years ago, it’s still an important story.

Mikey Madison’s magnetic as the intelligent, but social awkward data scientist. She shares an excellent chemistry with Jeremy Allen White as Horwitz, as the two continually try to break the ice – Horwitz’s tech knowledge is lacking, and Haugen needs to educate him in a way that doesn’t put her career at risk. There’s also a strong turn from Billy Magnussen as a snarly media relations executive for Facebook, who has to navigate Horwitz’s investigation. While Jeremy Strong is fine as the Goliath-like Mark Zuckerberg, he’s no Jesse Eisenberg and doesn’t have anywhere near as much charisma.

While The Social Reckoning is gripping, it could have really been something special with a more energetic director, such as Fincher. It’s competently shot by returning cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, but it’s lacking in visual style and despite the large-scope story, it feels smaller in scale. The film unfolds in a non-linear narrative, but things like a timeline being portrayed on-screen when we’re shifting years, feel rather static.

One of the crucial ingredients that made The Social Network really sing was Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ pulsating electronic score. Here, they’re replaced by Alexandre Desplat – an excellent composer, but one faced with an impossible act to follow. He wisely doesn’t try to emulate them and some of the themes he’s concocted are excellent. However, the way in which the score is mixed into the film can sometimes be on the nose, and the score feels manipulative into how we’re supposed to feel in certain scenes.

While The Social Reckoning doesn’t quite reach the masterful heights of the original, it’s still a very reasonable legal thriller with an engaging script and some excellent performances. It’s a very solid follow-up that’s best viewed as a companion piece to The Social Network – there’s plenty to admire here.