Director: Danny Boyle
Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (based on the book by Walter Isaacson)
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels, Seth Rogen
Music: Daniel Pemberton
Time: 122 minutes
Bottom-line: The best screenplay you could possibly have, and
the best acting
The two most significant events of
the 20th century: the Allies win the war, and this (Jobs
introduces the Mac).
The
moment I knew Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay, I made up my mind to watch
this film. Danny Boyle’s biopic stars Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet (each
receiving an Oscar nomination) in the lead roles, with Jeff Daniels, Seth Rogen
and Katherine Waterson in the supporting roles.
 |
| Fassbednder as Jobs |
You play the instrument. I play the
orchestra.
1984:
Apple Macintosh 128K’s voice demo fails at the last minute, and Apple
co-founder Steve Jobs (Fassbender) demands it to be fixed, and in the end the
crew ends up faking the demo. Jobs complains to his managing executive Joanna
Hoffman (Winslet) about Time magazine
exposing his family issues. He denies being the father of his daughter, Lisa,
and this strained relationship persists throughout the movie.
 |
| Rogen as Wozniak |
1988:
Jobs is fired from Apple, and he starts his own company, NeXT. The remainder of
the film covers incidents till 1998 – touching on Jobs’ friendship and
relationship with Steve Wozniak and John Sculley – where Apple renames Jobs as
its CEO, who launches the iMac.
You had three weeks to fix it. The
universe was created in a third of that time.
 |
| Winslet as Joanna |
Lines
like these, and exchanges: each one more biting than the other, is what made me
love Sorkin’s screenplay in this film, as well as his previous success, The Social Network. The dialogues are
humorous, catchy and often quite intense: for example, the talk between Jobs
and Sculley before and after Jobs is fired (shown in non-linear fashion with
quick cuts between the two timelines), the exchange between Jobs and Steve
Wozniak before the launch of the NeXT computer are engaging on a whole new
level.
 |
| Daniels as Sculley |
This
was quite different from the other five Danny Boyle films I have seen, in terms
of cinematography and themes. The story was a bit different: I was expecting
more of the pre-Apple struggle to be shown, which people would not know about, but instead Steve Jobs emphasises more on the
financial and commercial successes and personal failures. The relation with his
daughter and wife (Waterson) is a recurring theme. So it’s not really an informative insight into the life of
Jobs, if you’re looking for the development and growth of Apple; most of that
are shown as news clippings.
Fassbender
is outstanding in the film. He doesn’t quite have the physical resemblance, but
I liked the way he was able to portray the business-like, egotistic, yet
pioneering, character of Jobs. Kate Winslet – whenever she’s not calling after
Jobs reminding him it’s time to go up on stage – has few notable instances on
screen, the best one being the scene where she convinces Jobs to patch things
up with Lisa. Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels have also done remarkably well;
again, even if the appearance doesn’t quite match, the execution was perfect.
 |
| Wozniak (left) and Jobs, in real life |
So,
how much you like the film boils down to what you expect from it. Don’t go looking for a great
story, although the script is probably the best you can write for the biopic,
and the wonderful acting makes it all the more entertaining.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating:
86% 
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