Movie Review: “The Circle” Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
“The Circle,” starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, asks an important question: it privacy a silly relic of the past? Mae (Emma Watson) gets a job at The Circle, a massive silicon valley company intentionally patterned after Facebook and Google. She settles into the company, which operates from an idyllic, park-like campus in a massive building shaped like a circle. Soon, she’s assisting customers and pressured into joining the herd mentality of the Circle staff members.
Run by Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), the Circle uses it’s Facebook-like reach to “help” users by infiltrating every aspect of their daily lives, and is actively working to “help” more people by creating even more ways to invade their privacy. Their new initiative, “SeeChange,” involves placing miniature cameras everywhere. Eamon Bailey says the omnipresent camera system is designed to save people, but in a way that virtually eliminates any concept of privacy in public. “Knowing is good but knowing everything is better,” Bailey says at one point. But the new system, which Mae tests, exposes everything she does to a online audience, bringing embarrassment for herself and tragedy for those around her.
Ultimately, the movie fails on its promise as the story gets muddled in the middle when the story abruptly changes direction and Emma Watson’s character becomes an integral part of the company. She must then decide whether or not to go along with the founder’s schemes or expose them. I feel like the script needed another round or two of revisions to work out some of the obvious plot issues, and the ending is strange. I’ll leave it for you to decide, but I thought the ending was a weird and somewhat creepy cop-out.
The Circle, directed by James Ponsoldt, is based on a book by David Eggars, and stars Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, and, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him role, John Boyega. Released in 2017. Interestingly, Emma Watson’s parents are played by Bill Paxton, who died before the film's release, and Glenne Headly, who died two months after the film’s release.
Review by Greg EnslenVIP 6BlockedParentSpoilers2018-03-19T20:48:27Z
Movie Review: “The Circle” Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
“The Circle,” starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, asks an important question: it privacy a silly relic of the past? Mae (Emma Watson) gets a job at The Circle, a massive silicon valley company intentionally patterned after Facebook and Google. She settles into the company, which operates from an idyllic, park-like campus in a massive building shaped like a circle. Soon, she’s assisting customers and pressured into joining the herd mentality of the Circle staff members.
Run by Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), the Circle uses it’s Facebook-like reach to “help” users by infiltrating every aspect of their daily lives, and is actively working to “help” more people by creating even more ways to invade their privacy. Their new initiative, “SeeChange,” involves placing miniature cameras everywhere. Eamon Bailey says the omnipresent camera system is designed to save people, but in a way that virtually eliminates any concept of privacy in public. “Knowing is good but knowing everything is better,” Bailey says at one point. But the new system, which Mae tests, exposes everything she does to a online audience, bringing embarrassment for herself and tragedy for those around her.
Ultimately, the movie fails on its promise as the story gets muddled in the middle when the story abruptly changes direction and Emma Watson’s character becomes an integral part of the company. She must then decide whether or not to go along with the founder’s schemes or expose them. I feel like the script needed another round or two of revisions to work out some of the obvious plot issues, and the ending is strange. I’ll leave it for you to decide, but I thought the ending was a weird and somewhat creepy cop-out.
The Circle, directed by James Ponsoldt, is based on a book by David Eggars, and stars Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, and, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him role, John Boyega. Released in 2017. Interestingly, Emma Watson’s parents are played by Bill Paxton, who died before the film's release, and Glenne Headly, who died two months after the film’s release.