on THE
CIRCLE (2017, 110 minutes, PG-13)
The ‘trend’ of books being adapted to film is an
ongoing part of the ‘circle of life’ for Hollywood (yes, pun intended). They take books in… chew them up… and poop
them out. This is one case that this ‘trend’
should take a step back and think about what projects to take on, because they stepped
in a small pile.
Grabbing big name stars, like Emma Watson and
Tom Hanks, sounds like a good plan. So
it should... But this collaborative effort
is lost thanks to her not being suited for the role and his minor part not
being beyond the scope of the whole, just some added flavor. Don’t get me wrong, they are both stellar
actors. Watson is working her way up the
food chain and Hanks will always be regarding as nothing less than an apex
predator. Still, they are not enough to
save THE CIRCLE.
As a book, this tech-thriller plot may have
worked. As a movie, it comes across flat
and labored, a no thrills ride. The heart
is lost somewhere in the muddled social examination that is offered about the
advancements of technology and making our lives available to all who dare to
care. Sure, there are struggles. But after thirty minutes, “Who cares?” is
ringing in my mind.
The idea of information being completely
accessible to all, to include your more intimate parts of your life, has been
around for a while. Why this film wanted
to feel relevant or progressive to the current state of social media is lost on
me. Maybe in the 90’s we could feel the
impact of The Information Age creeping into our darkest, most secret, moments. By its conclusion, I have seen better ‘Black
Mirror’ episodes.
In the end, we are just making fertilizer here. There are no clever moments and no stimulating
scenes of surviving the system. The one
take-away, it has the same feel as ARRIVAL – a sense of what could really
happen, a potential dialogue concerning invasion of privacy in the not too
distant future. Although, manure is just
a part of the ‘circle of life’.
So, who knows?
Grade: C-
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