Steve Jobs

"Steve Jobs" is not a great movie.  But it is a great accomplishment.  In its own way, this film is as ridiculous as any of the "Lord of the Rings" movies.  Steve Jobs faces a series of personal and professional crises, all of which conveniently occur in the moments leading up to three of his biggest product launches.  It's an idea that only someone as megalomaniacal as Aaron Sorkin--or Steve Jobs--could come up with and pull off.

For a movie that's basically nothing but people talking, "Steve Jobs" has tremendous energy.  Sorkin piles scene on top of scene.  Sometimes he nests one scene within another.  Director Danny Boyle was an inspired to choice for the material.  Sometimes he can try too hard, but here his fussiness is essential to keep the movie from feeling too stagey.  He injects the film with adrenaline in a host of ways.  Some are obvious, as when he puts together zippy montages to introduce each of the three set pieces.  Some are minor, as when Jobs pauses before pounding on a door and marching in to confront an associate.  And some are subtle.  Boyle is constantly cutting across the axis--switching the side from which he's filming a two shot--in this film.  It's a technique that's become overused in the last few years, but the confrontational nature of many of the conversations here demands it.  In one sequence, Boyle cuts back across the axis for every line of dialogue to show the discordance between two characters.

Michael Fassbender deserves enormous credit for his unshowy performance as Jobs.  Fassbender understands that true confidence isn't demonstrative; you don't have to prove you're the smartest person in the room when you already know it.  He quietly helps carry this movie.

"Steve Jobs" is a complex juggling act between Sorkin, Boyle, and Fassbender.  It's impressive to behold.