Boyle And The Cast Do Their Best But The Film Is Fundamentally Uncinematic

Rating: 6/10 (22 December 2015)

A few years ago I watched Danny Boyle's 127 HOURS and lamented that we are still to see Boyle's great masterwork . Credit to Boyle being interested in a story that wasn't very cinematic featuring a man trapped in one location which would make a great documentary of true life survival on the Discovery channel but doesn't lend itself to great cinema . With a biopic on Steve Jobs Boyle has his work cut out with this one especially since the narrative limits itself to three corporate launches and there's no way a director can use the language of cinema to tell a cinematic story if the foundations aren't there
To be fair Boyle does his very best to try and bring something to the table . He is one of the great technicians of cinema . The editing is fine as is the cinematography and he brings a few flourishes such as captions on walls . He also along with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and actor Michael Fassbender bring a bit of character development to Steve Jobs . The central protagonist of 1984 is something of a rat who doesn't care about his ex-partner and the child they possibly had together and doesn't care about anyone except himself . By the time the end credits roll Jobs is if not likable then merely less unlikable
Many people have commentated that the concept probably belongs on a theater stage rather than a cinema screen and I'm inclined to agree . It's also difficult to empathise with a protagonist/antagonist whose function is to market products of corporate capitailism but since my favourite product I have is my I-pod I shouldn't really criticise too much