Dir. Alex Gibney · 2026 · 235 min including a 10-minute intermission · in cinemas
Alex Gibney, who co-wrote with Michael J. Palmer, spends nearly four hours on a single question: how did one man gather this much power, and why did so many let him? Elon Musk declined to take part. The film is built instead from public footage and his own recorded words, voiced through a digital stand-in styled like a video-game character, alongside interviews with people who know him, including his ex-wife Justine Musk and the journalists Kara Swisher and Zoë Schiffer. It premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival in September.
The critics are close to united on the thoroughness. Time Out's Lou Thomas gave it four stars and found it wide-ranging and gripping despite the length. Variety's Owen Gleiberman called it "a lacerating and important watch". The reviews describe a film that moves in short chapters from his early business days to Twitter, his political spending and the government cuts that followed, and ends on artificial intelligence. Reviewers say it explains Musk's problems clearly enough for a general audience, which is harder than it sounds with this much material.
It's a damning and maddening film, crafted with Gibney's typical vigour and thoroughness
Hannah Strong, Little White Lies
The length is the common complaint: TheWrap's Ben Croll calls it overlong, and Flickering Myth's Robert Kojder says it adds little new for people who have followed the news closely. The stand-in device splits critics. Strong finds it flimsy and unnecessary given how much damning footage exists. Others take it as a fair answer to an absent subject. There is also a tonal warning in several reviews: Thomas calls it "a fascinating, occasionally despairing watch", and Croll says it leaves you unsettled.
On the verdict they barely do: Rotten Tomatoes sits at 97% and Metacritic at 77. The split is on whether the film is a takedown. Kojder says it does not take an overt side; Musk himself has called it a hit piece, and a lawyer for him has reportedly threatened Gibney over one claim in it. Read that dispute as part of the story, and judge the film on what it shows rather than on who is shouting.
Tap what fits. The film suits you more the more you tick.
Nothing ticked yet.
People who want the full account in one sitting, and who can handle a heavy, argued film. If you know the story well, expect confirmation more than revelation. Not a film for a quick evening.
It opened in US cinemas on 9 October through Bleecker Street, with Universal Pictures handling international distribution, and HBO Documentary Films holds North American television and streaming rights. Availability varies by country, so check your local cinema listings.