This week's release of Jobs paints the creator of Apple as a purposeful manipulator that had every intention of leading the technological revolution while destroying every relationship around him. It's easy to imagine that every bit is probably true. While the movie, Jobs, does a fair share of truncating details and leaves out many aspects of his life story, this is the role that Ashton Kutcher has been waiting for.
Kutcher melds perfectly in to the character of Steve Jobs. Every minute detail is paid close attention to as Ashton replicates his voice, facial expressions, and nearly every other physical trait of the man behind Apple products. Many people bash Kutcher's skills but may finally realize he's actually a talented actor that's needed a chance to take on a weighty role like this. Unlike most of his other film roles, he finally conveys a depth and resonance that's been lacking his entire career. Despite his performances in Spread and Butterfly Effect, this is Kutcher's chance to shine and he finally proves himself as a dramatic actor.
Jobs is not as good as many other biographical pictures (The Social Network). But, it's still a relevant piece of cinema that will entertain most audiences while causing techie orgasms all over geekdom with its constant flashing of vintage computer hardware. Jobs is a virtual time capsule of every product Apple put out, and it's a fun time for those of us that grew up with those long lost products from another era in computing. That alone is worth the price of admission.
Jobs is nowhere near perfect. In fact, some of the time jumps get a bit annoying. But there's a lot of ground to cover in just over two hours and they do a damn good job of it. We get a solid portrayal of Steve Jobs and his over bearing tendency to be a control freak while creating and running one of the biggest companies in the world. The man was a modern genius that changed the world of computing forever. Despite all his personal flaws, I came out of the movie with a deeper understanding of maintaining personal vision while every one else is playing against you.
- Review by Chris George