Steve Jobs

Apple founder Steve Jobs has become a rather scrutinised figure in both documentary and film after his death in 2011. This latest biopic however, comes at the hands of both director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, both of whom are known for their rather honest depictions of the world as it is and portrayals of famous people in not so flattering terms. This already fixating combination of talents is made complete with a subtle but powerful performance by leading man Michael Fassbender.

Steve Jobs is split into three acts, each covering a specific period in the life of the man, taking place prior to a product launch that was important in his life. The first takes place in 1984 at the launch of Jobs' (Michael Fassbender) latest dream product, the Macintosh. He is supported by his marketing manager and confidant Johanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) as he contends with the mother of his daughter Chrisann (Katherine Waterston) and technical problems with the launch that he blames on Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg). In 1988, Jobs has left Apple and is working on a new project NeXT, which he thinks will be an important educational tool despite its high price. He also clashes with Apple CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) about leaving Apple and Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) over comments made during an interview. Finally in 1998, Jobs is back at Apple and is about to launch the iMac G3, the product that revitalised the company.

Where this film succeds that past films have failed (particulary 2013's Jobs) is that is not an ambitious film in its scope. Instead of covering every aspect of Jobs' life, the film covers three important moments in his career. That's not to say that the film is lacking for details about Jobs' personality or where he came from. We learn a lot from brief flashbacks where characters discuss his background. Despite Sorkin's snappy writing, the film does have a certain level of predictability when it comes to each of the segments. It seems that Sorkin just had a formula for each one and just changed certain details. Somehow this dragged out the movie for me and made the film less riveting than it should have been.

Which was a lot, considering Fassbender's remarkable performance is completely riveting. He plays Jobs as a sociopathic egomaniac who just wants to make the world of his genius. And you do believe that he believes he is the smartest human ever because Fassbender plays him with the right amount of charm, Kate Winslet's role I found difficult to categorise. I was trying to figure out whether she was a lead character orm a supporting one, but I suppose they all are next to who the movie is about. She really was the emotional core of the movie. Seth Rogen's boyish lovability comes in handy as Steve Wozniak and Jeff Daniels plays a more depressing version of the CEO he played in The Martian. Newcomer Perla Haney-Jardine is a strong presence as Jobs' daughter Lisa in the older sequences.

Boyle's biopic is convincing at times and peters out at others and this has to do with a shaky script from the usually strong Sorkin. Fassbender's performance I think will be strong enough for him to take home the big prize at the Oscars.