The Social Reckoning Got Mixed Reviews, and Almost Every Critic Compares It With The Social Network

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The Social Reckoning, Aaron Sorkin's follow-up to The Social Network, reached US cinemas on October 9 from Columbia Pictures. It is rated R, runs 1 hour 52 minutes, and the reviews are mixed. The one thing nearly every critic does is measure it against the 2010 film, and most conclude that the original was better.

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The split is easy to see in the headlines. The Film Stage called it an effective thriller that cannot stick the landing. Inverse said it does not reckon with much of anything. Rotten Tomatoes' critics note that the Sorkin-style banter can feel a little formulaic, while Showbiz Junkies gave it a B+ and called it an important movie. Early social media reactions, according to TheWrap, were just as divided.

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A sequel that arrives sixteen years later and covers a company far bigger than the one in the first film has a structural problem. The original was a small story about friendship and betrayal that happened to be about a website. A story about a global platform and what it did is bigger and harder to shape into a three-act drama. Earlier reports said Sorkin planned to recreate the events of January 6, which is exactly the sort of ambition that can sink a script.

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I want to be careful here. I have only read reviews, and mixed reviews often hide a film that improves on a second viewing. Sorkin's dialogue is a taste, and people who love it usually forgive a lot.

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If you have seen it, I would like to hear whether you think it works on its own or only as a footnote to the first film. Which side are you on?