The Circle (2017)

"What are you most afraid of?"

"Unfulfilled potential."

These are the most prophetic words in The Circle, a heavy handed, no, smash you over the head with it's message film from writer/director James Ponsoldt. It is set up to be a critique of the pervasiveness of social media but the film focuses so much on its construction of this it fails to tell a compelling story. The script is clunky and eye rolling. The performances are  stiff and one dimensional. The sets are starkly boring, as starkly boring as the film's plot. I haven't seen a film fail as badly as The Circle in a long time.

The plot is contrived and simplistic. A trendy tech corp is offering us such convenience and connectivity in our modern lost lives but in reality it's "secretly" taking over our lives. Yes, yes, we get it. But to make sure we get it, the film makes it villains so clearly and unabashedly evil. The film needed to find a way to make them seductive, to show how they coerce the applauding hordes into selling out their individuality. But instead the film practically playes "dun, dun, duuuuun" every time the corporation starts to push itself into our lives.

Emma Watson, in a role she is phoning in, acts like a heroine in a cheap horror film, running head long into the danger as we scream at her to run the other way. And then once she figures it out, there is a dues ex machina moments and she just manages (practically single handedly) to one up the big evil corp that is supposedly omniscient and all powerful.

If there had been a centimeter of depth to this piece, to any of the characters, the story could have been a fascinating and terrifying morality tale. This whole idea was handled much better on the TV series Black Mirror where at least it was handled as satire. Here it just feels like amateurish whining.

This Circle managed to attract some A-list talent but don't let that fool you. It completely misses the target and and opportunity.

The Circle 
Starring: Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, Karen Gillian, Patton Oswalt, Ellar Coltrane
Writer/Director: James Ponsoldt