The Circle
Review by Paul Preston
Welcome to Today I Watched…, a series of posts documenting my new challenge – watch a movie a day for the rest of my life. Keep coming back to TheMovieGuys.net to find out what I watch each day…and get my take on it.
When I see a movie that’s a new release in theaters or on demand, I’ll give it a proper review in the “Reviews” or “Home Viewing”, otherwise, I’ll write about it here.
May 16, 2017 – The Circle
I’m going to say something controversial: Emma Watson seems to be lacking the personality to hold an entire movie. She was excellent in the Harry Potter franchise, but despite the massive box office of Beauty and the Beast, could she have looked less like she wanted to be there? Unfortunately, that lack of spark continues in The Circle.
Watson plays Mae, the newest employee at (her dream job), The Circle, a hi-tech giant of a company who specializes in social media and are announcing plans for a surveillance protocol called SeeChange. The Circle has echoes of Apple, then echoes of Scientology, then echoes of The Koch Brothers, and author Dave Eggers’ invention of such a behemoth corporation explores many interesting concepts about privacy and corporate overreach. Unfortunately, the characters seem to be in service of those concepts and talking about them, instead of serving any kind of narrative where we care about Mae.
Again, though, I’m wondering if that’s all the story’s fault. Emma Watson really is sorta floating through this film with a worried look on her face rather than being passionate about anything, to where her pain lands with the same gravitas as her enthusiasm – softly. She has good actors in her parents (who left us soon after the film’s release), Bill Paxton and Glenne Headley. They generate real pathos as the real-world pragmatists when Mae gets drawn further and further into a web of douchery at The Circle. Tom Hanks brings his expected excellence as the Steve Jobs-esque head of The Circle. This is his first real villain in some time (if you count his turn in That Thing You Do). He had too much heart to be really bad in Road to Perdition and in The Ladykillers he was just too damn goofy. In The Circle, he is full-on nefarious, steely with his particular word choice and unmoving coffee mug. He doesn’t do much more than spout the threats or add a smile to The Circle’s wrongdoings, but that never matters as much as seeing how much it effects MAE, and that aspect of the story lacks the punch it requires.
To boot, Ellar Coltrane plays Mae’s childhood friend, caught up in The Circle against his wishes. You may remember Coltrane from Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. Let’s just say he was a more effective child actor. Karen Gillan plays Mae’s friend who gets her the job in The Circle. Her character is a spoof of what characters like hers would be in a movie like this and her degeneration is so swift, it gets unintentional laughs. Fleshing out Watson and Gillan’s friendship would’ve helped the flagging script.
The overbearing tech corporation is ripe movie material, but there are far more consequences in Steve Jobs, what I recommend a hundred times over The Circle.
Directed by: James Ponsoldt
Release Date: April 28, 2017
Run Time: 110 Minutes
Rated: PG-13
Country: United Arab Emirates/USA
Distributor: STX Entertainment
