STEVE JOBS

2015 | DIR: DANNY BOYLE | REVIEW BY GLENN COCHRANE.

Is there such a thing as Steve Jobs fatigue (SJF)? Because I think I have it. There's no denying the impact that he had on the world and his legacy is irrefutable, but since his death in 2011 we have been inundated with articles, journals, documentaries and feature films, which have all collectively created a myth of the man. His life has been reconstructed from various insider perspectives and with each representation has come a fair share of criticism towards his depiction. And so that myth has endured, and for those of us who never knew him, we are forced to choose which aspects we believe and which aspects are fanciful. I don't like that.

Where so many people disliked the 2013 film JOBS, I bucked the general consensus and thought it to be a strong and commendable piece with Ashton Kutcher giving a convincing performance. The narrative presented a cohesive and overall palatable perspective, detailing Jobs' humble beginnings and his rise to the top. Exactly why it was met with such distain is beyond me, but I am positive that Danny Boyle's latest film STEVE JOBS is far less interesting and practically insufferable.

The assumption is that everyone in the world knows who Steve Jobs is, and that's probably an accurate speculation, and so the film ignores ALL of the details that made Jobs the man he became and instead it presents him without context. All we see is a mean, arrogant and deeply troubled human-being. Aside from the technology that he gave the world, the film would have us believe he had very few redeeming qualities. I'm not sure that I like this presumption and with conflicting inside views on the man, it leads me to respond as though the film is a work of fiction.

The film is broken into three acts, each of which taking place backstage in the hours leading up to important public launches; the Macintosh, NeXT and the iMac. We are presented with a highly-strung man in a constant crisis-mode, who attacks anyone within biting distance. And that's about it. The entire film takes place behind the scenes of important launches, surrounded by chaos. It could be confused as a companion piece to BIRDMAN and it plays out like a two-hour-long commercial. Actual information about these groundbreaking products are treated as insignificant side-notes, and their importance is practically ignored. And to support the notion that Steve Jobs “The Myth” is paramount to “The Man” the film completely misrepresents the historical implications of NeXT (any dope can google it).

Performance-wise, STEVE JOBS is a powerhouse. Michael Fassbender knocks it out of the ballpark and commits to an impassioned, albeit caricatured, depiction of Jobs. The support cast includes Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels, Seth Rogan and Sarah Snook, who all surround Fassbender with grounded and reliable performances.

I admire Steve Jobs, but I'm done with Steve Jobs. I rely on his contribution to humanity on a daily basis and without his genius we would be living in a very different world, but I dare say that we are yet to see his life depicted accurately, and I doubt that we ever will. He laid the stones for which his myth was built upon, and maybe that would satisfy him immensely... but in my mind STEVE JOBS doesn't tell us anything that we don't already know. It seems pointless, exhausting and it's far too late to the game (which is ironic).