I went into Steve expecting a tight and humane drama, and for a while it delivered on those terms, and often genuinely.
Cillian Murphy anchors the film with a quietly devastating turn as a headteacher stretched thin by a chaotic boarding school and the accumulated hurt of the boys in his care. The cinematography and sound design pull you close to the rooms and the ruptures inside them.
But somewhere after the midpoint the film loses its narrative compass. Scenes that began as character excavation dissolve into impressionistic fragments that hint at meaning without ever committing to it. Important plot beats are implied and then abandoned; ambiguity becomes evasiveness.
I admired specific performances and a handful of genuinely affecting sequences, including an improvised confrontation that lands hard. Admiration, however, is not the same as satisfaction.
Steve is crafted with care and never dull, yet it left me asking what it was trying to say about care, culpability, or redemption. It looks accomplished and feels earnest, but it ultimately underdelivers.
5.5/10.
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