Review – The Circle
The Circle is the best movie of 2012. What do I mean by that? It’s a movie that has come out five years to late. Director James Ponsoldt has created a technological thriller that was tailor made for the pre-Snowden era. The film features some great performances and an interesting overall premise, but loses it towards the end due to it’s overall message missing completely.
When Mae (Emma Watson) lands a dream job at a powerful tech company called The Circle, she soon discovers a diabolical agenda that will affect the lives of her friends, family and that of humanity.
I don’t think much of Emma Watson as an actress. She’s an amazing person, but doesn’t really do it for me as a lead actress. Ponsoldt is a pro at getting great performances from his actors, as seen in his previous films, and in The Circle, Watson gives one of her better performances as the naive Mae. When Mae enters The Circle, she is a sponge, absorbing everything they offer, say, do, and believe in. This gets her in trouble, however, with her family, friends, and the company. We watch Watson go from bright-eyed guppy (what The Circle call new employees) to someone who is interested and open to The Circle’s ideas, yet scared at the same time. This is a step in the right direction for Watson, and I hope she progresses further as an actress. Tom Hanks also stars in the movie and really owns the movie. He plays Bailey, the Steve Jobs-like creator of The Circle. He is full of charisma and seems caring, yet you never fully trust Bailey. His motives and his plans for The Circle are ethically questionable and push privacy laws. Patton Oswalt is solid as Bailey’s smarmy C.O.O and John Boyega is great as one of the main tech guys in The Circle, yet I felt his character wasn’t utilized as well as I wanted.
As I stated in the opening, The Circle would have been a great movie in 2012. The big ethical quandary in the film is when The Circle wants to implement small cameras all over the world, allowing nearly everything and anything to be seen online. This might have been a debatable issue a few years ago, except in 2013, NSA agent Edward Snowden leaked thousands of files and documents essentially stating that the government watches and hears everything that we do, which caused a huge stir in the public and made everyone more aware of what was happening. This really ruined the punch and the thrill of the movie because we already know that it is happening. Are we cool with it? Not really, but there isn’t much we can do. The movie is still interesting for the most part, as it dives into some deeper issues like mandatory voting and the obsession with watching people’s lives online and the effect that can have on that person. But, had this movie come out before Snowden’s leak, this would have been a thrilling, though provoking movie that would have offered plenty of debate after the credits rolled.
The Circle was one of my most anticipated movies of the year because of the cast and I am big fan of director James Ponsoldt. I can now claim it as one of the most disappointing movies I have seen so far in 2017. It isn’t a bad movie, as it features some good talking points and gets a stellar performance by Tom Hanks. But the movie’s overall message and thrill is all but non-existent due to the issues not being relevant anymore which made the film’s final third incredibly underwhelming.
MY RATING – 2.5/4
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