Michael Fassbender is Brilliant in Steve Jobs Trailer

Posted on July 1, 2015

The first full-length trailer for the Danny Boyle-directed Steve Jobs biopic is here and it's gripping. Michael Fassbender nails his performance as the charismatic Jobs, despite not looking like him. It appears he didn't even dye his blond hair for the role. But he radiates the coiled energy that Jobs had. He also depicts a brilliant mind who is always just a second or two away from a cutting remark to a colleague or full out rage when things don't go his way.

The biopic is based on the Walter Isaacson biography, which Jobs fully cooperated with. Aaron Sorkin penned the script and it's excellent. The dialogue is fast and sharp. Boyle's direction is full of power and energy. The performances appear to be uniformly excellent. Kate Winslet is Apple's head of marketing, Joanna Hoffman. she isan't afraid to tell Jobs what she really thinks, and at one point orders him to make things right with his daughter Lisa.

Speaking of Lisa, the film does not shy away from Jobs' more unappealing personality traits. In once scene Jobs' high school sweetheart, Chrissan Brennan (Katherine Waterston), tells Jobs that his stock is worth more than $400 million, but she and his daughter Lisa are living on welfare. A furious Jobs denies she is his daughter (she is his daughter, and he does eventually accept her).

But the most interesting part of this take on Jobs is how Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) interacts with him. In the opening, the Woz asks Jobs, "What do you do? You’re not an engineer. You’re not a designer. You can't put a hammer to a nail. I built the circuit board. The graphical interface was stolen. So how come, 10 times in a day, I read Steve Jobs is a genius? What do you do?" Jobs considers the point and responds, “Musicians play their instruments. I play the orchestra." In other words, yes they are all talented but if Jobs hadn't been able to sell the product and convince the public they all needed a personal computer Apple would not have succeeded.

The film showcases Jobs when he was young, gives insights into the groundbreaking product launches, how he got fired by his own Board of Directors and how he made a triumphant return. If the film is half is good as the trailer, it will be brilliant. The film hits theaters on October 9, 2015. Take a look: