The Circle Review

     Technology being evil is a tale as old as time. Your Grandpa shouts it at you at every holiday dinner and audiences are fascinated with this idea of machines rising. Shows like Black Mirror and countless A.I. films have placed this phenomenon on-screen. The Circle is the newest film to explore this movement. With director James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now and Smashed) behind the camera and a talented cast such as Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, and John Boyega, this film has all the right pieces to be a magnificent social commentary on technology. Unfortunately this film is far from magnificent. Even with intriguing concepts, The Circle falls incredibly flat due to botched execution and horrendous pacing.
     Based on the novel by Dave Eggers, The Circle focuses on Mae Holland (Emma Watson) who receives a job at the prestigious tech company known as The Circle. Headed by Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks) and Tom Stenton (Patton Oswalt), Mae will quickly rise up the company ranks but will also find out the company is not as clean as it makes itself out to be.

     I was greatly excited for this film initially. The talent behind it is great and the concept is very intriguing, however this was a very difficult film to watch. Anybody who knows me well knows that I absolutely adore Emma Watson. She is one of my favorite actresses working in the business and I have enjoyed her in every film she's been apart of. With The Circle, you could have inserted any actress into the role as Mae and they would have sufficed. The character is incredibly one dimensional and Watson's performance often feels wooden. She is the main focus of the story and audiences will not have an ounce of care for her upon seeing this movie. Although Tom Hanks is the most enjoyable character to watch, he is incredibly underutilized. There is only really one moment in the entire film where the character seems relatable and it does not come until the third act.

     The writing and pacing for this movie will be the biggest gripe among audiences. This story seems to be all build up and yet no climax. Audiences will see where the story is going from a mile away and while this isn't necessarily a bad aspect if the setup and execution is well done, however this film completely botches it in regards of execution and the characters are nowhere near likable. Eggers also wrote the screenplay for this and I've heard the book is phenomenal but the screenplay for this movie felt like it was written by a student taking a college course on Screenwriting 101. The runtime for The Circle is 110 minutes but it feels like a marathon.
     Besides the acting of Tom Hanks, this movie is not only disappointing but might be one of the worst films of 2017 so far. All the pieces were in place for this to be an incredibly thought provoking concept but because of the botched execution and under-developed characters, audience will most definitely forget about this movie.

Rating: 3.1 out of 10