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In Musk, Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney takes on the richest man in the world with a four-hour exploration/beatdown. Elon Musk is an incredibly divisive and contradictory figure; he’s extremely inventive, innovative, and relentless like so many game changing CEOs and entrepreneurs seen throughout time, but he’s also dangerously impulsive, nasty, and has questionable, arguably uneducated political views. He’s the perfect candidate for Gibney to study.
The end result is a relatively straightforward analysis of Elon Musk’s strengths and weaknesses, accomplishments and failures. For those well versed in Musk’s history, this documentary may not present anything too new, and yet to see all of his deeds packaged into a single exposé, it’s still quite eye opening. Gibney could have devoted an entire movie just to Musk’s DOGE efforts, which resulted in the ballooning of the federal deficit and the deaths of millions of children, but when you have all the time in the world, why stop there?
An interesting question, and one that Gibney doesn’t care to ask, is whether Musk can be drawn back to the side of reason? He’s a smart guy, there’s no doubt. A ballbuster, for sure. And he is a bullshitter, a day-and-night salesperson even when he seemingly shoots himself in the foot repeatedly. But he’s also gone full right-wing in the last half decade, which is a dangerous place for a man worth a trillion dollars and who controls Starlink satellites to stay for extended periods of time.
Gibney seems content just laying out the facts and letting the audience decide on their own, though he clearly doesn’t like the guy and it sometimes shows. Gibney’s decision to have a CGI-generated Elon Musk “interviewed” for the documentary is an odd choice, too, and one that opens the filmmaker and his film up to unnecessary criticism–though everything Musk’s Digital Twin says are real words spoken by or written by the trillionaire, it’s a little unsettling, strange, and not as impactful as had Gibney stuck to more traditional avenues.
Still, overall, Musk is a worthwhile watch, a detailed examination of a fascinating if flawed man with a lot of money, a lot of power, and an ego to make the most of each. Musk’s proponents and fanboys likely won’t be swayed by this documentary, sadly enough, while his opponents may not learn too much new.
At nearly four hours, including a 10-minute intermission, Musk would have made for a better four-part streaming channel docuseries–and as a result probably received 10x the viewership than it ever will get in its current form–but as is it is still a compelling, easy-to-consume watch, even if you have to spread it out over a couple of nights.
Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.