Review of Steve Jobs (2015) by Thomas W — 24 Feb 2016

Steve Jobs is a film that focuses almost exclusively on script and acting. Sure there are sets, and there are costumes, and the camera has to do something, but the movie is driven by constant dialogue delivered by a handful of actors. Luckily, that dialogue was written by the amazing Aaron Sorkin, and was delivered by a group of extremely talented actors. So let's focus in first on the story/dialogue end of things. This film focuses in on 3 separate big moments in Steve Jobs' career where he is preparing to give a big presentation of a new product. The events all take place backstage and we are never allowed to see the actual presentations themselves, because backstage is where no one is putting on a show, everyone is raw and real. The things that happen have a lot of parallels in each scene. We see 3 separate times how Steve interacts with his coworkers, we see how Steve interacts with his personal assistant, and we see how he interacts with his daughter. Each scene feeds into the next and, with only these few events from a man's life, we can see how someone can grow and change. This sounds like it could get tedious and boring (hours of talking, bickering, and complaining) but Danny Boyle knows how to keep things active and exciting. Sorkin's lines are brilliant and I love how he works in some humor and also deep debates without feeling unnatural. This, like many of Sorkin's films, is one that I think would be fun to watch multiple times because I'd continue to discover new things I didn't hear the first time.

The film is also successful because Michael Fassbender is brilliant. While the character is the same in every scene, there's more than just the makeup that makes it obvious that years have passed. He adds a new depth to each new scene and makes it clear that the man is growing. I also love that you can see the hyper-logical brain of Steve Jobs basically trying to solve every life problem like a math equation. There's so much depth behind Fassbender's performance. Kate Winslet was alright as Joanna, Steve Jobs' assistant. Sadly, since most of her character's function is to mollify her boss and handle the people around him, she fades into the background of most scenes. She gets a few moments to shine, but her presence won't stick with me as much. Seth Rogen is clearly trying to jump into the Jonah Hill Oscar club playing Steve Jobs' original partner Steve Wozniak. They have a couple of really great scenes together, but the film didn't offer a good resolution for their relationship (we are just left hanging) so I felt a little cheated. Jeff Daniels also gets in a few good arguments and even some flashbacks to fill in the gaps between 2 of the main scenes. I also loved the 3 girls who play Lisa Brennan (Steve's daughter), because her relationship with her father is probably the most complex and also the most authentic and relatable. As you can see I did enjoy this film, but I must admit it lacked something. I wanted a bit more, perhaps another jump ahead to see if Steve's growth continued as Apple started to boom. We never see those iPod/iPad/iPhone years at all. But the movie is still very well done, and surprisingly intense considering how little actually happens.