Steve Jobs

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels, Seth Rogen, Michael Stuhlbarg, Katherine Waterston, Perla Haney-Jardine, Ripley Sobo, Makenzie Moss, Sarah Snook, John Ortiz
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Follows Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) through three product launches in three different decades.

Review:

Tim: This has nothing to do with the movie, but I want to mention that this is the 3,000 film I have seen! Okay, let's get to the movie- Two years after Ashton Kutcher's Jobs, we get another film about the life of Steve Jobs. Danny's Boyle's film is certainly better than the 2013 version, but it's not quite a great movie. I think it may be a few decades from now before we get the definitive movie about Apple's legendary founder.

Steve Jobs takes an interesting approach. Rather than tell his whole life story, the movie is contained to the lead up to three different product launches- the Macintosh, the NEXT computer, and the iMac. This is a unique approach and the movie should be applauded for its unconventional storytelling technique. This helps the movie to avoid feeling like the typical biopic. We actually learn a great deal about Jobs from these little windows into various aspects of his life. It's a novel approach and I appreciated it. Unfortunately, this does create one of the central issues of the film- it's absolutely ridiculous to believe all the same people interacted with Jobs in similar ways before three product launches in different decades. I understand for the sake of storytelling, we needed to check in with the various characters to see how their relationship with Jobs changed over time. I get it. Yet, it makes no earthly sense that before the three biggest product launches in his career, he would undergo the same level of chaos from those around him, all minutes before the product launched. That was a creative liberty that really hurts the movie. Even a genius like Jobs needs time to prepare. Anyone who is getting ready to speak and goes through the emotional turmoil he does right before each presentation wouldn't be able to focus and deliver a high quality presentation. That really bothered me as the movie went on.

Michael Fassbender gives an incredibly strong performance as Jobs. He's a talented actor and he seems to capture the essence of Jobs- both the misunderstood genius and the overbearing tyrant. He's really, really good in the lead role. I will say that the fact that he doesn't look anything like Jobs bothered me. Ashton Kutcher was shockingly accurate in his performance and I had to continually remind myself that I was watching Steve Jobs. This might be less of an issue a decade from now, but Jobs is still firmly in the public consciousness. This isn't a fatal flaw, but it did bother me some. Kate Winslet was great- it took me about 5 minutes to even realize it was her. She disappears into this role and deserved the Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Seth Rogen was surprisingly good as Steve Wozniak. Rogen makes so many purposely stupid comedies that I forget he does have some actual talent. I thought he gave a strong performance. I always, always love seeing Jeff Daniels and, as usual, he adds a great deal to this film. He can do things no one else can- I loved his interactions with Fassbender. I'm becoming more and more of a Michael Stuhlbarg fan and that continued here. Katherine Waterston was good in a smaller role. Really, the whole cast is very strong here.

Aaron Sorkin's screenplay is one of the great strengths of this film, at least in terms of dialogue. I could listen to his dialogue all day- it's so entertaining to watch these characters speak dialogue that just crackles out of their mouths. I loved the dialogue in Sorkin's script. The issues I had with it are the unrealistic coincidences of all these characters bum rushing Jobs right before his various product launches, and the creative liberties taken with the script. This happens in every biopic, but there are major aspects of the story here that just never happened. It might make for a more balanced, rounded out story, but the never occurred. For example, the reconciliation between Jobs and Sculley never took place. It seems odd to have that in the movie. This isn't a major detriment, but it hurts the film a little.

I certainly enjoyed Steve Jobs, though. 2013's Jobs did a good job of hitting all the major points in Apple's founder's life. However, it never really captured anything about the man's soul. This movie gets closer to achieving that. We still haven't seen the definitive telling of his life, but this movie dives deeper than the previous one. Danny Boyle might not have put together a truly great movie, but this is an effective, entertaining, well made movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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