For a long time now, eccentric trillionaire Elon Musk has remained in the public eye. Now, he’s taking over the big screen.
Directed by Alex Gibney, Musk is a riveting blend of entertainment and horror. Anchored by Gibney’s unique blend of humour, this documentary attempts to peel away the layers of Elon Musk’s image, exposing the cracks in his cult of personality. This is the sort of storytelling that feels both timeless and current, tapping into our cultural anxieties about artificial intelligence but still leaning into his humanity. It’s sharp. It’s brilliant.
It’s also four hours long.
And it’s still worth the price of admission.
Even so, Gibney does his best to make Musk palatable to viewers who aren’t excited about spending half of a workday in the theatre. Breaking the film down into 10-15 topical segments allows the viewer to feel like they’re taking smaller bites of much larger conversations. While he maintains the narrative flow effectively, Gibney also gives Musk a playful bounce between themes and styles.
Moving effortlessly between subjects such as the origins of Tesla, SpaceX and Musk’s endless parade of relationships, Gibney keeps the conversations topical in nature. In doing so, he seems to make small arguments that are easy to digest but still feel complete in their own right. As a result, Musk almost feels like watching multiple YouTube shorts or segments on CNN. The viewer remains engaged for the moment without feeling overwhelmed, leaving them ready to digest the next section.
It’s worth noting that Gibney has lots of experience breaking down complicated topics for the average viewer. As the director of films such as Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Going Clear, Gibney understands how to bring out the comedy in the midst of tragedy.
And, with Musk, there’s a lot of both.
Weirdly, there’s a sort of playfulness about Gibney’s depiction of Musk, especially as an almost mythical figure. Given his involvement with the Trump presidency recently, it can be easy to forget that the 21st Century once idolized the iconic engineer for his technological advancements that he believes are ‘for the betterment of mankind’. As such, Gibney allows his quirkiness to shine through, showcasing the eccentric trillionaire that he is. Here, he’s shown to be a visionary who – pun intended – drives headfirst towards the horizon of the future. As he makes claims about colonizing Mars and showering the Earth with electric vehicles, there are moments when you genuinely want to root for his success.
But, in other moments, Gibney does not hold back in his assessment of Musk’s character. Allowing his ex-partners (both in business and personally) to tell their stories, we’re given a glimpse of the carnage that can be left in Musk’s wake. Despite his charming persona, Musk also portrays him as a man who’s so intent upon the future that he fails to take responsibility for his actions. His focus on progress is shown to be at the expense of whatever lies in front of him, ranging from his numerous relationships to the law itself. His actions seem to mirror that of a child behind the wheel of a race car who has no interest in any restraints or brakes.
In short, he’s reckless.
Weaving each segment together, Gibney manages to create a rich visual tapestry that allows the complexity of Musk’s megalo-mind to shine through. We watch him climb the heights of the legacy of SpaceX and we watch him rip a chainsaw to the US Government. We celebrate his savviness as a businessman and cringe and the way he systematically destroys those that he claims to have loved. We even watch him call for restrictions on AI and then reverse course on the issue when he deems it necessary. You both want to love him and hate him at the same time. (Admittedly though, in the film’s second half, the negative far outweigh the positive as we delve into his relationship with politics.)
In this way, there’s an unrestricted wildness about Musk himself within this particular film. Yet, somehow, Musk manages to draw a throughline across the inventor’s exploits that pulls everything together. Although many of his actions seem erratic, Gibney assembles his film in ways that draw parallels through every area of his life. In doing so, Musk becomes a figure that feels both focused and erratic at the same time. Is there a method to his madness? Quite probably. But is there a madness in his method? Absolutely.
It’s worth noting that Gibney lets the viewer know from the outset that Musk declined to be interviewed by him for this film. (They even exchanged… colourful pleasantries online.) As such, Gibney’s portrait of Musk is compiled by interviews from those who have worked with him and an endless parade of news clippings and interviews from other sources. (He even uses an AI composite of Musk himself based on other information they found online.) At the same time, it should come as no surprise that Musk appears to have distanced himself from the film, even calling it a ‘psy op’ in a recent piece in The Guardian.
It’s not hard to see why.
But, in some ways, Musk is about more than just one man. There’s a certain sense that this exposes our obsession with progress and the ways that humanity has a tendency to blow past the rules in favour of the future. And Musk himself just happens to be the best recent example of this. Sitting on a golden throne of wealth, Musk is shown here to be a man of vision and passion. But, at the same time, Musk reveals a man who believes that following his dreams is best for everyone, even if he leaves a trail of carnage in his wake.
Musk is available in theatres on Friday, October 16th, 2026.
