Five-Word Review: Excellently-acted, Tightly-scripted, Realistic, Mostly Compelling

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2015)

Director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) teams up with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network), seemingly making a film-making match made in heaven, to tell the story of Apple's infamous CEO, the late Steve Jobs. With Macbeth's Michael Fassbender in the eponymous role, and support from Kate Winslet (The Reader), Seth Rogen (50/50) and Jeff Daniels (The Martian).
Presented Birdman-like as three separate acts behind the scenes of Jobs's launch of three products - the original Macintosh in 1984, the NeXT Cube in 1988, and the iMac in 1998 - the film progresses as a character study of the charismatic yet alienating CEO credited with single-handedly crafting what is currently the most popular technology empire in the world. However, a human approach to the man behind the myth is employed to great effect here, with Fassbender's performance lending gravitas and humanity to the role of a flawed man. His performance was apparently so realistic that the real people involved, such as Steve Wozniak and Joanna Hoffman, felt like they were watching the man himself. Sorkin's script, though perhaps not as memorable as his Social Network masterpiece (in my opinion the greatest non-Tarantino screen-writing feat in cinematic history) is imbued with his trademark fast-paced dialogue, moving the story on efficiently, yet giving each scene wit and a certain ability to utterly retain audience attention. The scenes are almost constantly compelling, especially as Boyle expertly directs characters escalating into anger - a stand- out being the confrontation between Jobs and Daniels' character Mike Sculley. Steve Jobs is a great film, with personal stories and realistic, interesting drama thankfully replacing the fake and dull drama usually present in biopics.
Though the film is consistently entertaining, it's not perfect. Its trouble is hard to pin down, nor is it significant - it just boils down to not being quite as memorable as some of the involved's other efforts, such as Slumdog Millionaire, the afore-mentioned Social Network, and 127 Hours. It's a cracking story, told very well. The ending is certainly well done, though it may have been nice to see some more of Jobs's life. The performances and music are in effect perfect, and it will be a turn for the books if Steve Jobs is not recognised by the awards ceremonies in some capacity. Well-done, often very entertaining. But not quite unforgettable. 82/100.