Steve Jobs discusses the story behind Jobs's life through a look at three different public product launches. Personally, I knew very little about Jobs's background and the first two product releases. As a Macbook Pro user, I was somewhat ashamed that I had no knowledge of the product releases. The first release brings us into the story with grainy 1980s imagery and costuming. The first 30-45 minutes of the film are portrayed as a period piece, delving us into the life of Jobs at a time where conflict was boiling under the surface. At the second release, the conflict unravels into a full-out fight between Jobs and John Sculley. The audience starts to choose sides during the conflict, and Boyle gives us a level playing field. Finally, we are brought into the final product release where resolution is forced into the story. I have an issue with the very last scene, which gave me flashbacks to The Newsroom season 2 finale. Still, this film does a great job telling a story that Apple-users and PC-users are mostly unfamiliar with.
Adding to the originality of the film, all of the performances are different for the respective actors. Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, X-Men) does a great job as Steve Jobs, the man whose inner-struggles constantly impacted his relationship with his family and coworkers. Seth Rogen (This is the End, Superbad, The Interview) finally takes on a serious role as Steve Wozniack, showing audiences that he can not only make them laugh but also make them sympathize. Pairing with Fassbender, Kate Winslet (Titanic) plays Joanna Hoffman. Winslet's accent is believable for a Polish women, and she adds to the emotion behind Fassbender's portrayal of jobs. Finally, we come to Jeff Daniels's (Looper) portrayal of John Sculley. Daniels's performance guides us through one of Jobs's tougher relationships. At times we understand what Sculley is doing, but we also choose whether or not we like or hate him. To me, all of these performances were on par in the making of an original take on a contemporary story.
The Bottom Line: Danny Boyle takes three events from a man's life and creates an original film to reflect on Steve Jobs's inner-struggles.
Score: 9/10
Image credit: By MetalGearLiquid, based on File:Steve_Jobs_Headshot_2010-CROP.jpg made by Matt Yohe - Own work, based on File:Steve_Jobs_Headshot_2010-CROP.jpg made by Matt Yohe, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16232621