The Social Reckoning is a movie that has long been requested. The Social Network is one of the best movies of all time, but Facebook’s origin is only one small piece of a story that is still going. Since then, the social media platform has grown exponentially and become one of the most important pieces of society, for better or worse (mostly worse).

Facebook has been in and out of legal trouble, and the rise of social media that arguably really began with Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Savrin back on Harvard’s campus has been problematic, to say the least. With every troubling Facebook-centric (or Instagram) news headline, it was clear that David Fincher’s 2010 movie was only the beginning. There was so much more story to tell.

Finally, in 2026, Aaron Sorkin, writer of that film, decided to tell some of the rest of the story. Without Fincher, Sorkin was on his own, which has been a mixed bag for many. His writing is undeniable; just look at his ridiculous filmography. His directing is a little more hit or miss, sparking some concern when it was revealed that he, not Fincher, would take on the difficult role of writer/director.

The Social Reckoning Review

One thing needs to be said up front so that there’s not a qualifier after every single thing. This movie is not The Social Network, and it is not nearly as good. The score is good, but it’s not better than the score of the original. That sort of statement pretty much applies across the board. The good news, though, is that The Social Reckoning is not trying to be.

The Social Network is half biopic, half courtroom drama. It’s about Mark Zuckerberg and the genesis of Facebook. In The Social Reckoning, Zuckerberg, portrayed this time by Jeremy Strong, is a mere side character, and he’s not even on screen all that much. This movie is about the journalist and whistleblower who are responsible for bringing this story to light. It’s much more like All the President’s Men (again, not nearly as good) than The Social Network, ironically.

This focus helps differentiate The Social Reckoning from its predecessor. You can find yourself immersed in the investigation rather than comparing everything. Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison both do a fantastic job embodying their characters and carrying this movie. Though used sparingly, Strong is uncannily good as Zuckerberg.

He’s going to be compared to Jesse Eisenberg, but that’s not exactly fair. These are two very different versions of the same person. In essence, they are different characters. Eisenberg was more so playing a type of person, the kind of man who could come up with the idea for Facebook and then manipulate and scheme his way to dominance.

Strong’s version is very different, jaded by time and corrupted by even more power. Eisenberg was brilliantly embodying an archetype, while Strong is doing a bang-on impression of a person we now know an unfortunate amount of information about. Zuckerberg is much more in the cultural zeitgeist than he was when the first movie came out.

It is a clunky script, perhaps one of Aaron Sorkin’s worst. But a mediocre Sorkin script is still pretty good. The dialogue isn’t as snippy as some of his better works, but there’s still plenty for fans of his work to enjoy. Those who don’t enjoy his work aren’t going to be convinced by this, though.

The direction certainly does leave a lot to be desired, and it’s clear why Sorkin’s absolute best projects were with other directors. However, the bland, straightforward direction may unintentionally be a feature, not a bug. Certainly, the movie would’ve been a bit more enjoyable with clever camerawork or a visual flair/style that an auteur might bring to the table.

But this is a movie, ultimately, about facts and their unyielding straightforwardness. There’s a conversation in the middle of the movie about facts being subjective and the difficulty in getting to the root to determine the actual true fact in a statement. That’s an important thing to include, and because the movie is so fact-oriented, the plain, no-nonsense direction actually fits the narrative decently well.

This is very much a companion piece to Eddington, a movie I thoroughly disliked. Eddington and The Social Reckoning sought to hold up a mirror to some of the worst aspects of society and point back in time to when things were at their height. But Ari Aster hides cowardly behind the mirror, while Sorkin stands beside the mirror and delivers a poignant, strong take.

Aster seems more intent on just asking if everyone remembers how crazy and controversial 2020 was. Sorkin is pointing back to 2019-2021 and taking a hard stance about the events. The filmmaking in Eddington is a bit stronger, but the message and the conviction behind it give The Social Reckoning a lot of points in my book.

Score: 3.75/5