‘The Social Reckoning’ fails on every level

“The Social Reckoning” is billed as a sequel to “The Social Network,” the 2010 masterpiece written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher, starring Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook (now Meta) CEO Mark Zuckerberg – a man who built a massive connection network despite having no idea how to connect with real, actual people. This time around, Fincher is out, leaving Sorkin to write and direct the film on his own. And “The Social Reckoning,” for all it shares in common with “The Social Network,” doesn’t quite feel like a sequel. Not just because Zuckerberg (now played by Jeremy Strong) barely factors into the film, and not just because it’s a far more straightforward journalism movie than the almost Shakespearean drama of “The Social Network.” It doesn’t feel like a sequel because, like the majority of Sorkin directed projects, it lacks the verve of the films that come out of his creative partnerships. This is Sorkin’s fourth feature directorial effort since 2017’s “Molly’s Game.”