Steve Jobs (2015), R, ★★★★

Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.

Wow! It is sort of ironic and a bit of deja vu as I am typing this review because the first Jobs movie with Ashton Kutcher is the movie I first reviewed on the blog and it is a little skeptical and humbling to review another movie about the genius behind Apple and its products. But, biopics have become a bit too epic and bloated in its material and retreats to the Hollywood conventions of inserting romance and too much substance into the movie and becomes safe for Oscar consideration. With this movie, it goes for the throat with the pitch-perfect dialogue and non-merciless characteristics. This movie is extraordinary to behold.

Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin have structured the movie into three different events. They are all behind-the-scenes before the product launches of the MacIntosh in 1984, the NeXT cube in 1988 and the iMac in 1998. Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) has to deal with the situations on-hand regarding his professional life and his personal life.

In 1984, a 28-year-old Jobs and his right-hand woman, Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) and one of the inventors, Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg) are trying to solve a problem as to why the computer monitor would not show and will not say "Hello". It is revealed they are going to showcase the MacIntosh in a performing arts center in Cupertino, California in front of Apple shareholders and press. Joanna and Steve go backstage as she tries to convince to leave the "Hello" segment out of the demo. He is insistent to make it happen because it will highlight the event as either a success or a failure.

Throughout the movie, we meet a few other important characters such as Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen), a shy and socially awkward person trying to help out Jobs. Woz is in the nearly empty audience as Steve is practicing his speech. Woz tries to convince to acknowledge the other team members but Steve refuses. They go outside having a long debate trying to convince him that the board hated the 1984 ad but again Steve does not care about their opinions. He has enough problems as it is. The other problem is a backstory involving his estranged ex-wife and their daughter, Lisa, saying that it is really their daughter.

Also, leading up to the event, the CEO of Apple, John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) has a conversation with Steve regarding his behavior, saying that he is behaving worse than usual. Steve and John has a father-and-son type of relationship as they debate about certain issues but make up for them in the end. All the problems, also involving Apple as a brand, are on the brink of disaster, as we witness Steve Job going through all the motions especially in his next two events.

Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak. 

This movie delighted me from beginning to end because this is not your typical biopic. This movie is an excellent stage play of the behind-the-scenes look of every event regarding behavior, stress level and professionalism. But, this movie spends so much time backstage and also in hallways that the movie, again like a stage play, centers on that breakdown with great visionary and visual set pieces that the whole build-up is more illuminating and eccentric than the non-viewed presentations in the movie. Just see them on YouTube.

Now, I know Michael Fassbender does not look exactly like Steve Jobs but still, he delivers a crackling and dynamic performance as one of the greatest geniuses of our time, who is not a designer, engineer or coder. He simply "plays the orchestra". Fassbender is going to be in "Best Actor" conversations until the nominations will be announced. The surprise is Seth Rogen, who gives a quiet and subtle dramatic performance unlike anything in his resume. He's got some great dramatic chops. Kate Winslet disappears quite nicely and has remarkable chemistry with Fassbender. And, Jeff Daniels, familiar with Aaron Sorkin's screenplay, knows how to recite every line with vigor and intensity like Aaron Sorkin's dialogue. He is having a great year with this movie and The Martian.

Adapted from the interesting biography by Walter Isaacson (read it), Boyle and Sorkin took three events and shot it with different styles and different visual personalities - the first act being in 16 mm, the second act being in 35 mm, and the last act being in digital. Each act cleverly takes that visual personality and inserts into each act concentrating on both the drama and the build-up with great conviction.

Even though, I did not think it was as coincidental bringing in Steve Jobs' daughter, Lisa, before every event to resolve any issues regarding her life but she, in every act, is a key to the behavior of how Steve Jobs will handle himself close to the event and maybe after the event. Most of the time, he is a person that we do not like because he is ignorant but the ending wants to persuade us to like him. It is a debate after the movie is over when it becomes sentimental but it works in my opinion. The ending shows the effort he had to go through and still was going through to increase his professionalism and behavior into other territories by launching other products in the future.

This movie is a reminder of how a revolutionary genius tackles on a challenging task and transforming those products to enable us to help ourselves in both the present and the future. Whether or not if Steve Jobs was a complicated and complex man to know and work for, he cared about the attributes and benefits of the products to get the people's awareness that his products will certify our lives forever. Indeed, we would not have computers, Pixar or better phones. Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin has created a captivating and self-absorbing film with great screenplay, great cinematography and great performances.

****