Review - The Circle (2017)

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Yeah! Tom Hanks presenting an iPhone launch event!

Do you post stories on Snapchat more than you drink water throughout the day? Do you obsessively put your selfies on Instagram and refresh the app to check likes? Do you prefer to shoot a live video of your vacation instead of actually being in the moment? If your answer to all of these questions is "yes", then The Circle might just prove an eye opener for you. If not, then you are in for a pretty bland cinema with bits and pieces of interesting themes scattered throughout. More often than not, you would rather scroll down your Facebook feed instead of looking up at screen. 

Based on a dystopian novel by Dave Eggers, the film is about a young college graduate Mae (Emma Watson) who lands a job in a Facebook/Google-esque company called The Circle. Headed by a charismatic CEO named Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), the social-networking company is like a dream for any employee - vast, green campus with so many things to do that you won't find even in a big city, a hefty paycheck with awesome medical benefits. For obvious reasons, Mae falls for it. So much that she goes transparent - that is to say, she volunteers to put on a small button like camera on herself and broadcast her daily life to every single person linked with The Circle. Yes, it does sound like a Facebook-Live version of Keeping-Up with Kardashians, the only issue being Mae's life is pretty boring as compared to anything Kim does on the show. Really boring.

Even with talented actors like Hanks and Watson, the film sinks - and the blame must be put on the screenwriter. Without bothering to explain the technical hurdles in order to maintain such a gigantic social platform, the film loses it with the absurdity of how most of the people feel that its OK to go live and broadcast every single hour of your life. The film goes to such an extent that it shows people from government supporting this horrible idea - and those few who are skeptical, refrain to protest until the very end. Worst of all, there is hardly any conflict. There is no antagonist and even the protagonist is disappointingly confused and one-note. Watson and Hanks are mostly presenting big ideas in front of a large awe-struck audience, just like an iPhone launch. The film gets redundant to such a limit that you lose any interest in the story. 

The film is labeled as techno-thriller - the techno part is certainly there, but unfortunately there are no thrills. The only one moment near the finale ends up with a conclusion which we don't see happening onscreen. By the last 20 minutes or so, the film appears as if to be redeeming itself with a shift to the right track - exploring the financial exploitation by privacy invasion and a possible global revolt against a scheming tech giant. But it all ends too soon without any proper pay-off. The Circle flirts with some really interesting notions which have been previously dealt by masterpieces like Truman's Show and on a broader political level by V for Vendetta. But it does nothing to flesh out its characters or even provide a substantial commentary on the issue it is tackling. The Circle is indeed a disappointment.

PS. The logo of 'The Circle' company is pretty similar to SBI logo (just rotate it to 45 degrees counter-clockwise)

2.5/5