Steve

Cillian Murphy is a powerhouse of an actor. After he won the Academy Award for Oppenheimer he has now become a household name in mainstream Hollywood. However, he hasn’t seemed to have forgotten his roots, as his newest film Steve proves.

Steve directed by Tim Mielants stars Murphy as the titular headmaster for a school of troubled teen boys. The film takes place over a twenty four hour period where Steve must balance the boys, a television crew, job security, and his own mental health.

Despite having a huge name like Murphy’s attached to this– even changing the title from the book so that it’s his character’s name instead of one of the teen boys– the kids are the best part of this film. They were so interesting and multilayered. Each actor gives such a realistic portrayal of these teens, it’s amazing. I honestly wish that the film focused solely on them instead of Steve. I have to say most of the scenes that were just on him were outshined by the scenes featuring the teens.

I will admit that some of the editing and camera choices are out of place. There’s this tracking shot that moves all around the campus that not only feels like it doesn’t belong in the film, but it doesn’t even look that great technically. There’s also a montage near the end of the film which was a bit lame. The structure also irked me, as I wished they either stuck fully with the television crew or didn’t have it at all. I understand why they left half way through the movie, but it was just jarring.

While the story itself is enthralling, I think it would have been better if we fleshed out the characters more. Both the kids and the teachers maybe needed some more time to shine. Shy especially, as he is the main teenager, doesn’t feel super developed, leading to what happens at the end of the film to not hit as hard. The film is about ninety two minutes, but I believe this could have benefited from being ten to twenty minutes longer to develop the characters more.

Overall, not a bad time. This just got released on Netflix and I can see a lot of stressed out people in the 40’s enjoying this one.