Steve… when you can’t think of a title for your film, just use the first name of the lead actor, here played by Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer).
Set in 1996, he and other teachers are being interviewed for a documentary, where he’s first asked, “Tell us about Stanton Wood” – the name of the reform school for which he’s the head teacher, the video being purposely of iffy-looking quality to match that of the era.
The Trust involved are threatening to close this establishment full of disruptive, troubled kids – with Shy (Jay Lycurgo – The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself) being the most unruly of the lot, frequently swearing at the teachers, whilst trashing the place. And they haven’t got enough staff to deal with this.
Everyone does a great job of being fed-up teachers with a heavy load, and all getting to the end of their respective tethers – the rest of the main cast made up by Tracey Ullman, Simbi Ajikawo, Youssef Kerkour and Emily Watson (The Legend Of Ochi), but for this slice-of-life drama over the course of a day, while it’s initially interesting, it does feel a lot less than the sum of its parts.
It was amusing to see Roger Allam come to visit the school as their local MP, Sir Hugh Montague Powell, since Allam was also in The Thick Of It as an MP, but that’s just a brief scene.
I see this film has received a lot of plaudits, but I just can’t find the hook in any of it.
It also doesn’t help that there’s some arty-farty imagery used to represent this for those who haven’t quite got the jist of it (which can’t be anyone by that point), but all it does is make Steve unnecessarily longer.
That said, while drum and bass is not normally my sort of music, I did enjoy Slipmatt’s Breaking Free (above). So, I got something out of it.
NOTE: There are NO mid- or post-credits scenes.
Steve is on Netflix from tomorrow, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 92 minutes
Release date: October 3rd 2025
Studio: Netflix
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Score: 2/10
Director: Tim Mielants
Producers: Alan Moloney, Cillian Murphy
Screenplay: Max Porter
Novel: Max Porter (“Shy”)
Music: Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury
Cast:
Steve: Cillian Murphy
Shy: Jay Lycurgo
Amanda: Tracey Ullman
Shola: Simbi Ajikawo
Jenny: Emily Watson
Andy: Douggie McMeekin
Owen: Youssef Kerkour
Jamie: Luke Ayres
Riley: Joshua J Parker
Benny: Araloyin Oshunremi
Tarone: Tut Nyuot
Paul: Tom Moya
Nabz: Ahmed Ismail
Ash: Joshua Barry
Posh Cal: Archie Fisher
Julian: Ben Lloyd-Hughes
Kamila: Priyanga Burford
Angus: George Fouracres
Geoff: Marcus Garvey
Charlotte: Ruby Ashbourne-Serkis
Sir Hugh Montague Powell: Roger Allam
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.