Steve Jobs

Review By: John Delia

One of the best actors in the business today, Michael Fassbender, will have you spellbound as he brings one of the most difficult characters to the screen, Steve Jobs.  You can feel the penetrating persistence in his delivery of the massive dialogue that’s contained in the script by Alan Sorkin (The Social Network). He’s the whole show and whether you like the man he portrays or not, go see it for Fassbender’s performance.

The film pushes through Steve Jobs’ (Michael Fassbender) most dynamic years that brought him fame, fortune, sadness and grief. It holds nothing back showing his motivational skills, his arrogance, unethical practices, stubbornness and the inconsiderate treatment of his own daughter and her mother. Set mostly backstage during presentations of his new products starting with the Apple LISA, stumbling through discussions and remarks about Apple II, then straight on to the Black Box called NEXT.

Within that period of time we find out some of his past, his secret meetings with his boss CEO John Skully (Jeff Daniels), debasing of his co-founder computer designer Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) and demands made to programmer Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg).  All along the way his personal assistant Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) tries to keep Jobs on the straight and narrow with the press and behind the scenes at his new product presentations. She plays go between for Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston) the mother of his daughter Lisa (played by Makenzie Moss at age 5, Ripley Sobo at age 9 and Perla Haney-Jardine at age 19).

The task master behind the film is director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) who keeps his film moving at a quick pace.  It’s like having a tub full of dirty bath water and once the plug gets pulled there’s no stopping its motion until the very last drop falls down the drain.  Boyle lets nothing get swept under the rug showing the tenacity of the man who conceived the Apple Computer and marketed it to the giant it is today.  Boyle gets down and dirty showing Jobs’ whole gamut of personality changes, his wit, defiance and determination to be seen as a sort of demigod.

In the role of Steve Jobs, Michael Fassbender commands the screen for the over two hours.  His mannerisms, quickness of delivery, stubbornness beyond belief, yet amazing determination to realize his dreams all come through in his magnanimous performance.  He’s startling to watch at times as he brushes off Chrisann Brennan like she’s a trollop and gold digger while his daughter (who he denies is his) sits just a few feet away.  It’s cringing when he sluffs off Steve Wozniak, the one man who helped him put his dream together, that only a mention of his team’s name at the stockholders meeting was all that was asked.  If Fassbender’s performance does get overlooked by the Academy of Arts and Sciences for an Oscar nod, I would be surprised.

The whole cast does a terrific job with their characters.  I do want to point out that Seth Rogen shows his dramatic depth in the film as Steve Wozniak, the wounded member of the team that brought Apple to the height of a major company.  Seth, known mostly for his comedic ability, shows a disdain for his co-founder and takes Jobs to task that he’s being left behind as the company moves away from the Apple II to a more powerful system. As a matter of note, the real Wozniak still remains with Apple as the only original member of the founding team.

Steve Jobs has been rated R by the MPAA for language. The film’s target audience ranges from ages 23 to 56, but older folks who lived through the era of the new “typewriter with a memory” will get a kick out of the film as well.

FINAL ANALYSIS: A very good biography without an ounce of white wash. (B)