'The Circle' Movie Review

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   The Circle is directed by James Ponsoldt, and it stars Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, and Ellar Coltrane. The film revolves around a huge tech company known as the Circle. When Emma Watson’s character gets a job there, she quickly realizes that it’s not exactly what she expected. The Circle is involved with a lot of controversial surveillance of basically everyone around the world, and she’s not quite sure how she feels about it.

   The idea behind The Circle was a really interesting one, and it’s one that is very timely. Surveillance and to what level it should be used is one of the most hotly debated issues of our time. The trailers for The Circle looked interesting enough, but they never really wowed me and made me excited for this film. Well, they did an honest job marketing the movie, because what you see it what you get. The premise is interesting, but the actual movie behind it isn’t all that great.
   The conversation that The Circle is trying to start is one that is already being had. Which makes it a bit of an uphill climb for this film, because going into the film people already have their opinions on the issue.  Unfortunately, due to the film’s mediocrity, I can’t help but feel like The Circle is going to be that film that people try to bring up during these debates, and then they can’t remember the name of it and spend way too much time trying to recall what it was.
    The best thing about this film was definitely the cast. The cast for this thing is stacked with a ton of popular and great actors and actresses. Emma Watson was the lead, and she was surrounded by the likes of Tom Hanks, John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood), Bill Paxton, Karen Gillan, and Patton Oswald. Unfortunately, this great cast doesn’t nearly have enough to do in the film. All of the performances in the film were fine enough, but I can’t help but feel that they could’ve been so much more if the script had been better. The biggest disappointment of all was John Boyega’s character. They introduced him, and he was a really cool character to have in the story. It felt like he was about to become central to the story, and then he was randomly demoted to random shots of him standing in the distance.
    Where this film suffered the most was in its writing. Plain and simple, it was a bad script. I realize that the film was based on a book (that admittedly I have not read), and to that, I say that either the story of the book was just as mediocre or it wasn’t translated well at all. Throughout the whole film, I was looking for a message, a lesson to be learned. What I found was that the film was too shy to commit to one. They hinted at a couple here and there, but none of them were given enough time to really sink in. To make matters even worse, when it finally looks like they’re picking a central theme, the end of the film happens and flies completely in the face of what that theme was. If they hadn’t done that, the film could’ve ended on a strong note. Unfortunately, The Circle feels like it ends right after somebody trips and falls. We don’t quite see them hit the ground, but we definitely see them fall. That’s what the ending to this film was like.
   So overall, The Circle was pretty mediocre. It wasn’t anything special, which is really frustrating because it could’ve been a great and timely film for audiences to see. The script of the film didn’t really know what it wanted to be, and it showed through very clearly. The film does have a few great moments, but they’re so watered down by the rest that in the end, it doesn’t matter. The film never committed to a theme, and when it seems like they finally did, the film ends and completely undermines itself. I guess you could see The Circle if you really wanted to, but I won't recommend it to you.
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5/10

​   So what did you think of The Circle? Did it have more of a lasting impact on you? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter. It really helps! Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and other miscellaneous movie thoughts!
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