"The Circle" (2017)

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Stewball
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"The Circle" (2017)

Post by Stewball »

WARNING, the theme of this movie is political/philosophical in nature, thus some comments will inevitably be judged by some to be inflammatory or tangential. In order to keep its offensiveness to a minimum, I'll be posting this in as subdued and civil a manner as I can make it, and without further comment or response. The spoiler included is major.

It's a well told tale of an Apple-like company, The Circle, and a Steve Jobs-like CEO, Bailey (Hanks), which becomes increasingly intrusive into people's privacy in the name of keeping us safe etc. Big Brother lives in Silicon Valley. This leads to making a superb point at the climax, but also ignores a blatant flaw. [spoiler]The heroine, Mae (Watson), manipulates Bailey into being exposed by The Circle's own program to be among the few upper level elites who have exempted themselves from being among the "protected". But this truly valiant deed of emphasizing this example of the source of all evil, a moral/legal double standard, only peripherally touches what's necessary to enable it: government, along with the blind, evangelistic-like support of an oppressive majority, which it portrays overly generously.[/spoiler] I was genuinely surprised by the climax and had no idea where it was going until then. One apparent plot-hole, I never really got a handle on how Mae's ally, Ty, was able to go undetected doing the things he did. 7/10

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