Showmanship

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 2017)

Less a biopic of the computing pioneer and more of a series of snapshots, this Aaron Sorkin scripted film focuses on the title character's anxieties in the minutes leading up to new product launches at three stages of his life. This is an interesting move by Sorkin and director Danny Boyle as we only get to see Jobs when at his most vulnerable, but the effectiveness is debatable. The film is flooded with flashbacks to provide exposition and fill in key details and tension inevitably dissipates with so much cutting back and forth. Sorkin also struggles to get under the title character's skin to reveal a human being. In the title role, Michael Fassbender is cold and distant throughout, proudly stating "I'm indifferent to whether they dislike me" and cynically commenting that people always "find a reason to sue me" when asked about contacting his birth father. On this note, the film tries to use the fact that Jobs was adopted as a possible reason for him being so callous but to little effect. His relationship with his estranged daughter is the only really element that humanises him, and even that never quite clicks with their bonding lost in the jumps in time between the three acts. And yet, there remains a lot to like about how the film captures his enthusiasm and showmanship, ruing the fact that movies like '2001' made the public fear computers and practising his product launches time and time again. Daniel Pemberton's pulsating music score is pitch perfect too and it is easy to see why Kate Winslet garnered awards attention, even if her authentic Polish accent sometimes slips.