The Asshole of Apple

Rating: 6/10 (20 June 2016)

Two years after Joshua Michael Stern's Jobs, Aaron Sorkin would aim to rectify the story of the man who made apple by penning Steve Jobs. The film suffered a disastrous pre production which saw top talent such as David Fincher, Christen Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio turn down the film and the film was even dropped by the Sony conglomerate. Fortunately for Aaron Sorkin, his adaptation would see the light of day as director Danny Boyle and actor Michael Fassbender would eventually confirm and stick with the project through to completion... Only for it to flop in the box office. On the bright side though Aaron Sorkin got a Golden Globe for all his troubles.
Speaking of Aaron Sorkin's Golden Globe win, the films script is interesting as it focuses on the Steve's personal failures than his career achievements. Highly selective and dialogue heavy, this character study set during three Steve Jobs tech presentations aims to present the unlikable genius that didn't seem to do much. As Steve says "I play the orchestra", but from what this film suggests, that quote simply means he uses people for personal gain. Ironically this film achieves very little (on the personal side), despite it being about a extremely successful man. By the film's close Steve doesn't make amends with many of the people in his life and in real life he remained estranged from his daughter. This aims to mirror what really happened and what Steve really did but it leaves you with no sense of closure when the credits roll.
As mentioned earlier, Michael Fassbender takes on the role of Steve Jobs in this biopic. Fassbender is arrogant and extremely unlikable as jobs and so does a particularly good job worthy of the Oscar nomination he received. Fassbender is surrounded by an equally good ensemble cast; Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels and Seth Rogan are terrific in this film. Seth Rogan I found most impressive, shifting away from comedy to do drama successfully in his portrayal of Steve Wozniak. The collective collaboration of the cast play a huge part in the enjoyment and quality of the film and should be applauded.
The only real critique of this film is that it could have focused on and done more with the character its about. The film is extremely selective and misses out some major moments in Steve Jobs' life; such as the birth of Apple, his involvement with pixar, the iPod and his cancer. I do on the other hand understand that the film would want to be more than a by-the-numbers biopic and of course there is the Ashton Kutcher Jobs that the film makers of this film would not want to repeat, so i'll give this film the benefit of the doubt in that respect as well as this being a character study of the man and not a walk-through of his achievements that everybody probably knows about.
Overall Steve Jobs is a well acted, well written film that focuses on the man and not the legend that is Stev Jobs. Although the film could arguably done and/or covered more of Jobs' life the film doesn't fall into by-the numbers biopic by doing so. The first Jobs film was a failure with critics and the second, a failure at the box office. Lets hope this film gains success on other platforms... For Aaron Sorkins sake at least.