Written by: James Ponsoldt and Dave Eggers (screenplay), Dave Eggers (based on the novel by)
Directed by: James Ponsoldt
Starring: Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, Bill Paxton, Karen Gillan, Patton Oswalt, Glenne Headly, Ellar Coltrane
Rating: PG-13
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!
Plot
The Circle is the largest tech company in the world. Mae thinks she's found her dream job, but the company may have sinister objectives.
Verdict
With all the potential in the world, it doesn't deliver. The story is incredibly predictable and unfulfilling. Any subtext was me reading too far into the movie. It could have explored many topics but instead concluded that total surveillance is bad and those above the law always have something to hide. This raises a lot of good questions indirectly, but leaves a lot on the table. All of the disparate plot lines are there just to reach the rather bland conclusion. As a jump off for discussion, this is really intriguing, as a movie it leaves a lot to be desired.
It depends.
Review
Every topic I thought this movie would explore, it doesn't. At first I thought it was going to compare the typical call center where we first see Mae working with the glorified call center that is her new job at the Circle. It has prestige and a fancy campus, but she also has to meet various metrics and maintain online social profiles. The only subtle thing in the movie are the ever increasing monitors on her desk, she starts with two and ends with five.
The movie then gets into the new micro-camera that also records data. This is a new version of 1984. I thought the movie would explore the reach of large tech companies and how their business is based on mining consumer data. It's apparent from the jump that the Circle wants to mine data. Why are the cameras so cheap? It's because the data is the profit. While the movie kind of explores the logical end of this, it doesn't do enough. We don't even get any tension with whether the Circle is good or bad, we pretty much know their game from the start. The movie could have argued that their products are free and or cheap because they use consumer data to offset the cost while simultaneously improving lives.
The company also mines data from employees. Mae is forced to maintain various social profiles, but she never questions why. She doesn't question anything, she just goes with it. Most of this movie is over the top. Mae happens to meet Ty, the co-founder of the circle who conveniently reveals to Mae parts of the Circle's over arching plan. There's no reason for him to do this other than to advance the plot and set the stage for the conclusion. He hates what the Circle has becomes, but he's still there. Why?
The Circle forces Mae to ingest a sensor, telling her after the fact what it is. She has no concerns with that. Maybe she opted in upon employment, but she should be concerned they tricked her. If it's just that she's excited to have a dream job and doesn't want to be disruptive, reveal that. This company has such high prestige they can take advantage of employees like that, but this is never addressed. It's apparent to the viewer the Circle also wants to track her bio metric data. Mae seems oblivious.
Then we get a politician that will be transparent, video recording all conversations. I get the need for politicians to be honest about their encounters, but sometimes their encounters could potentially create panic. How many crises have been averted that we didn't know about? Imagine if their was mass hysteria every time a politician stared into the void.
I began to wonder if the sinister plan was the Circle using all this data purely for profit. Mae becomes a full time vlogger, by wearing a camera at all times. She becomes a performer, no longer living life but performing for an audience. This was an interesting concept. People go bigger for the attention, and it becomes an obsession. Mae is a circus act. Frequently internet comments are superimposed on the screen. They're quite funny and fairly accurate, though much less crude than reality.
Simultaneously she's becoming the new star employee of the company and a favorite of co-founder Bailey (Tom Hanks). She suggests the Circle registration be required for citizens to vote, and Bailey loves the idea. The conflict there is that the Circle is for profit. No one brings up this point. With this, the Circle could become a monopoly. I get the concept of online registration and pushing the vote digitally to get more voters, but through a biased company isn't the answer.
At this point I wondered how the movie would pay off any of these ideas, or just one of them. They can't capture all of them. Mae has become a puppet, but to what end? Unfortunately Mae is a blank slate. We needed more introspective drama to get of sense of her feelings. What we get about her life is just manipulative, it's not development.
The lead in to the big finish is that the Circle has citizens tracking people, even criminals. This app is called "soul search." Instead of calling the cops people follow with a camera, putting multiple people at risk. It's also a stalker's dream tool.
During a live presentation the crowd demands Mae's friend Mercer be located. We've seen him a few times throughout. Mae hesitates, but she's a puppet. A devastating tragedy involving Mercer causes her to step away from the company. Her grand finale is using Ty to reveal Bailey's private emails about the company. We don't know what his sinister machinations are, all he says is, "We're [screwed]."
The movie doesn't hold much surprise as it barrels through the plot like a dump truck. Any subtext I read in this was giving the movie too much credit. The disconnect with the end is that Mae opted in to decreasing her privacy and making all aspects of her life public. Bailey doesn't get an option to reveal personal information. It's forced on him. Sure he wants to remain secretive while demanding others be transparent which is hypocritical, but those in charge never want their secrets out and they always have many. There were so many ways this could go and it doesn't pay off any of the ideas I liked. This movie could be a modern The Conversation (1974) or Enemy of the State (1998), exploring methods of contemporary surveillance. In this movie Mae opts in to the surveillance.
As a discussion piece I like this movie, but it has a ton of wasted potential. Along a similar lines is the Black Mirror episode The Entire History of You. It is the best single hour of television I've ever seen. You can check out my review of this episode and the series at large. It explores similar themes where everything a person sees is recorded. Instead of making new memories, many people get stuck reliving past memories, obsessing over a social gaffe, or what an errant look might have meant.
It not only makes me asks questions but delves deep into ideas that are fascinating and much more than surface level. It has a single point and drives it home. It does what The Circle by and large couldn't and wouldn't, answering the question of how a world with constant surveillance would truly manifest.
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