Today’s quick review: The Circle. Mae Holland (Emma Watson) gets the chance of a lifetime when she’s hired to work at The Circle, the world’s largest social media company. As Mae settles in, the company begins to take over her life, sweeping her up in a wave of job benefits and peer pressure. The situation reaches a head when Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), the head of The Circle, makes her the face of the company’s new push to stream everyone’s lives.
The Circle is a technological drama about the consequences of social media run amok. Set in an alternate present where one company has a monopoly on the Internet, The Circle explores the tradeoff between privacy and accountability, as well as the darker side of relying on technology. Lofty ideas and some pointed criticisms of modern culture give the movie good material to work with, but its clumsy story and heavy-handed tone leave it an unsatisfying watch.
The Circle shines at the conceptual level. The movie has a knack for identifying the uncomfortable aspects of social media and taking them to extremes. Whether it’s the loss of personal privacy or the immense pressure to conform, the issues it highlights are uncanny. The trouble is that The Circle does not provide a buffer between the audience and its subject matter. Because the setting is so close to reality, the exaggerated portions of it feel unreal.
The execution also falls short. The Circle downplays the major turning points of its story, giving them minimal build-up and weak follow-through. Mae’s personal arc feels similarly stunted. She has few concrete opinions of her own, so once The Circle starts exerting pressure on her, she never recovers her sense of identity. The movie also squanders a talented cast, relegating Tom Hanks, John Boyega, and Patton Oswalt to roles without much screen time.
The Circle is a movie with grand ideas and disappointing execution. Those interested in a disturbingly contemporary take on dystopian fiction may want to give it a try, but its flawed storytelling and blunt messaging keep it from being the compelling thriller it should be. The Circle works well enough as a thought experiment, but as a story, it has little to offer.
For a dystopian action thriller about a society where all crime is monitored, try Minority Report. For a darker thriller about the consequences of ubiquitous recording, try The Final Cut. For a more iconic story about a surveillance state, try 1984. For a true story about the rise of social media, try The Social Network.
5.3 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 5.5 for flawed execution of interesting ideas.