The Circle (2017) * *

Directed by:  James Ponsoldt

Starring:  Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, Patton Oswalt, Bill Paxton, Glenne Headley, Karen Gillan, Ellar Coltrane

The idea of technology invading privacy and robbing people of their lives is not a new idea.     The Circle updates it for today's times and some of the technological breakthroughs introduced here may seem farfetched today, but tomorrow may be reality.    In that sense, The Circle is like Network (1976), in which a struggling TV network takes drastic measures to improve ratings, measures which actually became reality a short time later.     Was that movie satire or a harbinger?     A little of both.    The Circle is the same way, although that is where the similarities between this movie and Network end.    

The Circle is all buildup and no payoff.    Well, at least no satisfactory payoff.     The plot's absurdities simply outweigh the thought-provoking moments at long last.     The movie ends with such haste that I wondered what was left out in the editing.     The villains get their comeuppance, I suppose, but if these guys were really the next-level thinkers the movie professes them to be, then what happens to them is something they should have foreseen and taken appropriate steps to avoid.    You almost see the uh-oh on their faces, but seriously, did they not think that this development wasn't at least a possibility?    

Emma Watson stars as Mae (as in Aunt Mae from the Spider-Man series), who is hired by The Circle, a San Francisco-based technology company with some new innovations up its sleeve.    Its CEO, Eamon Bailey (Hanks), gives weekly Steve Jobs-esque speeches in front of worshipful crowds pumping up the latest technology being introduced as the next big thing.    In this case, Bailey introduces a camera so tiny it can be placed anywhere while circumventing those pesky privacy laws you hear so much about.     He espouses, "Knowing is good.   Knowing everything is better,"   The employees' mouths are agape.    This is clearly the most fascinating thing they've heard since the invention of the latest iPhone.    The Circle sells scary products which keep data on various metrics which The Circle can use to, of course, enrich them and wield untold power over governments and citizens.   

Hanks plays Bailey as a seemingly kind, charismatic man who is part snake oil salesman and part Svengali.    Hanks' natural charisma is on full display and he can sell snow to Eskimos, which is vital as he takes Mae under his wing and manipulates her into wearing one of these cameras full time for all of the world to see.     Think EdTv or The Truman Show, only with no film crews.     Every moment, with the exception of sleeping and bathroom breaks, are streamed for the world to see and post comments on in real time.    Think reality television, only with no film crews.     Media outlets and production studios would salivate at the chance to use these cameras.    Imagine all of the overhead they could eliminate.  

The Circle itself is a cultish compound with dorms, parties, and "non-mandatory" activities for which Mae is chided by co-workers for not attending.     She has her own baggage, including a sick father with MS (Paxton), a friend/co-worker whose relationship with Mae goes on the skids as Mae's celebrity rises, and a male friend who would like to be something more if Mae would stop wearing that damn camera on her lapel.     The Circle's more effective moments involve the creepy atmosphere of The Circle itself, in which Big Brother is always watching...until certain convenient points in the plot when it isn't.     There is also the inexplicable Ty Lafitte (Boyega), who created the programs on which much of The Circle's technology is based, but has "gone off the grid", but not so much that isn't clearly visible playing with his phone and schmoozing Mae at company parties. 

Ty laments that The Circle is using his programs for which they were not intended.    He believes, as we do, that there shouldn't be a metric for everything.     Not every piece of someone's life needs to be analyzed and measured.     There should be room for privacy.     Ty is more of a plot device acting as the movie's conscience.     Fair enough.     What I don't understand is how a website can post headlines such as "Where is Ty Lafitte?" when anyone can just look around The Circle's campus and one of Bailey's pow-wows and see him standing right there.     And if he supposedly had a falling out with Bailey and COO Tom Stenton (Oswalt), then why is allowed to roam around The Circle unabated?  

Watson gives a grounded performance amidst the mounting silliness.     I also enjoyed Oswalt's chilling turn which is very, very far removed from the comedian's previous film and TV appearances.     Hanks is Hanks, but it is painful to watch him become a dupe when he is clearly much smarter than that.     Boyega's brief appearances get the job done, even though we don't know how he is so easily able to make such appearances.    There is a plot development which I won't reveal here which surely would cause someone's family to sue the pants off of The Circle and acts as the catalyst for Mae to realize that all of this technology could potentially suck.    But all of this wraps up in a way which is tidy, hasty, and ultimately unconvincing.      The examination of how rapidly innovative technology is both a positive and a negative has been explored before in other films, and considerably better.