Over the years there have been at least a dozen films detailing Steve Job’s life. Many of those films have been documentaries, a couple of them being feature films with narratives detailing his life, and his work at Apple. However Steve Jobs is the best depiction of his life.

Steve Jobs is helmed by director Danny Boyle ( 28 Days Later, 127 Hours) and penned by prolific screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, The Social Network). What sets the film apart from other biopics is that instead of telling a narrative about Steve Jobs’ entire life from start to finish, the film tells the story in a three act structure.This makes the story structure more akin to a stage play with the conversations on screen between characters being very fast- paced and full of energy. The movie is more of a character study on Jobs rather than a straightforward biopic.

The titular character is fantastically played by Michael Fassbender (X-Men Days of Future Past, 12 Years a Slave), while he may not resemble Jobs perfectly, he gives such an elegant portrayal of the man. He expertly personifies what most people imagine when they think of Jobs. Fassbender pulls off the arrogance and egoism that defined his character. Jobs was a complex man and the film shows this by giving a balanced portrayal of the man depicting his troubled relationship with his daughter and conflicts with coworkers which play a big part in the film. Costarring Fassbender was Kate Winslet (Titanic, Divergent) playing Apple’s head of marketing and Jobs’ confidant Joanna Hoffman, Jeff Daniels plays the former Apple CEO John Sculley who is still bitter about losing his job. Seth Rogen takes a dramatic turn as Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak. The most surprising performance was Rogen’s dramatic turn into accurately playing Steve Wozniak. Usually when an actor known for comedy acts dramatically it’s off-putting much like seeing your teacher outside of class. However with Rogen I eventually forgot that fact and instead saw Wozniak and not Rogen. He also held himself well against the rest of the cast who all are more familiar with the genre.

While Director Danny Boyle may not seem like the perfect choice for the film considering his filmography, he adapted his style well into the film. It is fast paced and packed full of dialogue that constantly flows with style and substance. He also makes the cheesy moments in the script work in comparison to a more straightforward director with less skill. The film was written by Aaron Sorkin, his typical writing technique definitely shows up in the film with his style being best described as if his characters had hours to come up with what to say.

The film has many things going for it, but it also has many shortcomings that prevent it from being perfect. The movie itself is nearly flawless for its first two acts, but the pace slows down considerably in the third and final act of the movie. Compared to the first two acts of the film, the final act is a bit rushed in resolving all the subplots in the film. The main subplot focusing on Jobs and his daughter wasn’t resolved and ultimately ends up with a somewhat unsatisfying ending to the film. Overall, the film is solid in it’s direction and acting, especially Fassbender who gave stellar performances. Regardless if you dislike Jobs this is an excellent film that I recommend to people who like a fast-paced, drama- packed, dialogue-filled movies such as other Sorkin-penned pictures like The Social Network.