Steve Jobs is a fairly complex movie about a very complex person. It is pretty darn good, but, in the end, may have bitten off more than it can chew.
Steve Jobs tries to tackle most of the issues of Steve Jobs' life through three of his most iconic product launches: the MacIntosh, the NeXt and the iMac. These three products encapsulate the first (and arguably most dynamic) half of Jobs' fascinating life and career. This period of time was the most complicated of his life, covering his repeated denial of his first daughter's paternity, his famous firing (and subsequent rehiring) at his company Apple, and hints at the beginning of the second (and arguably more successful) part of his life where Apple redefined the world with the iPod, iPhone and iPad (upon which this review is currently being written).
Icon. Arrogant. Visionary. Petty. Artist. Cruel. Genius. Stylistic talent. Machiavellian manipulator. Horror of a human being. Dreamer of a better, kinder world. Denier of his own child. Loving father. Jobs was all these things and more. At one point in the film, Jobs says, "I am not well-made." That sums him up quite well. As with all things in life, things are much more complicated than they first appear. Aaron Sorkin tries to make sense out of a very complicated man in a very short amount of time. Drawing heavily on Walter Isaacson's great biography of the same name, Sorkin ingeniously uses the famous product launches combined with flashbacks to illustrate the events that happened up to that point. The problem is that Jobs is so complicated, it is almost required to have a little foreknowledge of the man and the events in his life to make sense of the plot. Newcomers to Jobs will be a little lost. However, the movie boils down to three main stories: the relationship with his coworkers (illustrated by Steve Wozniak, played incredibly by Seth Rogen); the father-son dynamic of the fatherless Jobs (Michael Fassbender) and father figure John Sculley (Jeff Daniels); and centrally, the relationship between Jobs and his daughter.
The whole cast is incredible and the visuals by Danny Boyle interesting and creative. For people who have an enduring fascination with the man, this is a great film. For all others, it may fall a little flat. Myself, I loved it.
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