---
title: "Musk"
year: 2026
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/musk"
fi1m_id: "musk"
imdb_id: "tt27041231"
tmdb_id: 1096228
wikidata_id: "Q117253374"
fi1m_score: 70
critics_score: 73
critics_reviews: 16
published: "2026-10-12T20:19:59.733181+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-12T20:20:05.572754+00:00"
region: "ES"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Musk (2026)

Directed by Alex Gibney · 3h 55m · Documentary

## Identity

Musk

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/musk
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** musk
- **IMDb ID:** tt27041231
- **TMDB ID:** 1096228
- **Wikidata ID:** Q117253374
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27041231/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1096228, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117253374

**Fi1m score: 70** · Critics 73 from 16 reviews

*In a sentence:* Four hours on the richest man alive, and the most frightening thing in it is a Tesla driving itself

> Alex Gibney’s four-hour account of Elon Musk is thorough, cold-eyed and, in its stretch on Tesla’s self-driving cars, properly frightening. It is also too long, and the computer-generated Musk who turns up to read his own words is a gimmick the case never needed.

## Synopsis

Alex Gibney’s 235-minute documentary assembles the life of Elon Musk from archive footage of the man himself and interviews with the people who knew him before the money. A computer-generated Musk, built from his own recorded words, turns up to introduce each stage, and the stages are laid out as levels of a video game. Justine Musk, his former wife, describes the marriage from the inside. Martin Eberhard, a former colleague, gives his side of the story. The journalists Kara Swisher and Zoë Schiffer supply the chronology and the scepticism. Ashley St. Clair, a later partner, and the AI researcher Geoffrey Hinton appear further in, as the film moves from how he made his fortune to what he is doing with it.

## Review

Alex Gibney has made his name on institutions that lied: Enron in *Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room* (2005), Scientology in *Going Clear* (2015). *Musk* gives him a single man instead, and the man is not short of material. It runs 235 minutes, nearly four hours, built from archive footage of Elon Musk and interviews with people who knew him before he became the richest man alive. It is thorough, it is damning, and in one long stretch it is properly frightening. It is also an hour too long, and it carries a gimmick that keeps getting between us and the evidence.

The gimmick first. Gibney and his editor and co-writer Michael J. Palmer have built a computer-generated Musk out of the real one’s own words, and it appears throughout to deliver them back to us. The idea, we think, is that a man who has said this much on the record should be made to say it again, slowly, to our faces. The effect is a waxwork reading tweets. Each time it appeared we found ourselves looking at the rendering of the skin rather than listening to the sentence, which is the opposite of what the film wants. The life is also parcelled out as levels of a video game, with animated interludes to match, and the conceit is amusing for about twenty minutes and then becomes a thing the film has to keep servicing.

The witnesses do not need the help. Justine Musk, his former wife, talks about the marriage with a steadiness that is more unsettling than anger would be, and the film’s account of how he deals with the women who have had his children is its sharpest stretch of character. Ashley St. Clair, a more recent former partner, picks up the thread. Martin Eberhard, one of the former colleagues, tells his part of the story without raising his voice. Kara Swisher and Zoë Schiffer, who have both reported on him, supply the chronology and the scepticism. Geoffrey Hinton, late on, is asked what Musk’s ambitions for artificial intelligence might mean, and gives an answer we would have preferred not to hear. Ben Bloodwell shoots all of them simply, seated and lit without fuss, and nothing in the frame competes with what they are saying.

Then there is the section on Tesla’s self-driving cars. Gibney goes through the crashes one at a time, the claims the company made about what the car could do set beside the record of what it did, and we were horrified. Not in the pleasurable way a horror film manages it; we sat quite still and found we had stopped taking notes. It is the clearest demonstration in the film of the distance between what Musk says and what happens to other people as a result, and it is made out of documents and footage rather than opinion. Daniel Pemberton’s score drops to almost nothing here, which is the right call. Elsewhere it hums away under the archive and swells under the animation more than the animation deserves.

The length is the problem that will not go away. Palmer cuts the archive briskly, and for the first two hours the accumulation works; by the third we knew where it was going and were waiting for it to arrive. Much of the middle will be familiar to anyone who has followed the news, and the film has no interview with Musk himself, so it cannot surprise us with the man, only with the arrangement. One claim about his conduct around an election is stated with more confidence than the film’s own evidence supports, and in a work this careful that stands out.

Most critics have liked it a little more than we did, and the difference is almost all the avatar and the hour we would cut. *Enron* found one story and told it; this has four or five, and the video-game frame is there to disguise the fact that they do not quite join up. See it, in two sittings, at home, where you can stop after the Tesla section and go for a walk. You will want to.

*Fi1m score 70, published 12 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics find Gibney’s documentary absorbing and damning, and most say it earns its near-four-hour sitting. The praise clusters on the research: the case built from Musk’s own words and actions, the interviews with his former partners and colleagues, and the detailed investigation of Tesla’s safety claims and the crashes involving its self-driving cars. Several reviews call it chilling; a few go further and call it important.

The reservations cluster on the devices rather than the argument. The AI avatar built from Musk’s words divides the reviews: The Hollywood Reporter calls it inventive, the Los Angeles Times calls it gimmicky and The AV Club finds it off-putting. The 225-minute runtime draws complaints of strain, and some critics note the material is already familiar. The spread is narrow. The one outright dissent is Consequence, which thinks the facts are horrifying enough that the animated sequences and digital clone only get in the way.

## Straight answers

**Is Musk worth watching?**

*Musk* is worth watching for anyone with four hours and a strong stomach for how the richest man alive conducts himself, and we scored it 70. It is thorough and in its stretch on Tesla's self-driving cars properly frightening, but it is an hour too long and the computer-generated Musk who reads his own words back to us is a gimmick. We suggest two sittings.

**How long is Musk, and what is it rated?**

*Musk* runs 3h 55m. It is a documentary film.

**Where can I watch Musk in Spain?**

*Musk* is not on any streaming or rental service in Spain at the moment. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Musk, and is it suitable for children?**

*Musk* is a documentary with no UK certificate and an R rating in the United States, and it is not for children. There is no staged violence, but the section on Tesla's self-driving crashes, built from footage and company claims set against the record, horrified us, and the account of how Musk treats the women who have had his children is hard to sit through. Older teenagers who follow the news will manage it.

**How does Musk compare to Citizen Kane?**

*Musk* and [*Citizen Kane*](https://film.one/film/citizen-kane) are both studies of a rich man who bought his way into public life, but one is a documentary assembled from archive and interviews and the other is a drama that invents its tycoon. *Citizen Kane* is the better film, because Welles gives its ingenuity a human centre; Gibney has the evidence but not the shape, and his film runs long. Watch *Kane* for craft and *Musk* for the facts.

**What should I watch after Musk?**

After *Musk*, try [*Citizen Kane*](https://film.one/film/citizen-kane) (1941, Fi1m 93): The original study of a rich man who bought a newspaper and then the world. Then [*Collective*](https://film.one/film/collective) (2019, Fi1m 88): Romanian reporters follow a scandal upwards; patient, furious and under two hours.

### Reviews we read (16)

- **The New Yorker**, Sheelah Kolhatkar (90/100, inferred): Kolhatkar finds the documentary mesmerizing and chilling, saying it punctures Musk’s self-mythology with a damning portrait of his power. She particularly praises the interviews with Musk’s former partners for illuminating his control over the women who had his children. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-lede/in-musk-alex-gibney-punctures-elons-self-mythology)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (90/100, inferred): Ebiri finds the documentary gripping and fascinating as a character study, while portraying it as a terrifying warning about the future. He praises its four-hour scope for giving Musk’s story a dramatic sweep rather than reducing it to headlines. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-alex-gibneys-musk-is-terrifying.html)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney (80/100, inferred): Rooney finds the documentary a persuasive, chilling, and absorbing portrait of Musk’s power, though its 225-minute run invites questions about sustaining outrage. He especially praises Gibney’s inventive use of an AI avatar built from Musk’s own words. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/musk-review-elon-musk-documentary-alex-gibney-hbo-1236693254/)
- **Time Out**, Lou Thomas (4/5): The review presents the documentary as deep, dark and worrying, while suggesting viewers will enjoy it despite Musk’s dislike. It singles out Gibney’s unsettling portrait of the world’s richest man. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/musk-review-2026)
- **IndieWire**, Ryan Lattanzio (B): The critic calls the documentary a distressing, damning, and necessary account, despite its limited access and familiar revelations. They praise its exhaustive research and effective use of repeated, blunt visual metaphors. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/musk-documentary-review-alex-gibney-elon-musk-1235215433/)
- **The AV Club**, Monica Castillo (B): Castillo delivers a strongly negative verdict, arguing that Gibney exposes Musk as a deceptive and dangerous figure. She praises the documentary’s case built from Musk’s own words and actions, though its uncanny-valley avatar is off-putting. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/musk-review-alex-gibney-elon-documentary-corruption)
- **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (75/100, inferred): Gleiberman calls the documentary an important, lacerating watch that makes sense of Musk’s contradictions. He particularly praises Gibney’s skill at piecing together the evolution of Musk’s ambitions and public image. [Read](https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/musk-review-elon-musk-alex-gibney-1236854369/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Robert Abele (70/100, inferred): Abele finds Gibney’s documentary a deeply researched, clear-eyed portrait of Musk, though its nearly four-hour length strains the story. He praises its exposure of Musk as a self-promoter, while calling the computer-generated Musk gimmicky. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-10-09/musk-review-alex-gibney-elon-tesla-spacex)
- **Radio Times**, James Mottram (70/100, inferred): The review presents the documentary as absorbing and not a hatchet job. It singles out its compelling treatment of Musk, though the article text is unavailable to confirm further details. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/musk-documentary-review/)
- **Screen Daily**, Tim Grierson (70/100, inferred): Grierson presents the documentary as gripping overall, though somewhat glossy. He singles out its exhaustive study of Elon Musk, while noting its polished sheen. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/musk-review-alex-gibney-presents-a-gripping-if-glossy-study-of-controversial-billionaire-elon-musk/5220184.article)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (70/100, inferred): Bradshaw finds the documentary absorbing, while portraying Musk as banal, destructive and unsettling. He praises its wide-ranging account, especially the testimony from Musk’s former wife and colleagues. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/08/musk-review-epic-study-worlds-richest-most-banal-man-elon-film)
- **Little White Lies**, Hannah Strong (65/100, inferred): Strong finds the documentary damning and maddening, though its video-game framing is over-laboured. She praises the candid interviews and brisk editing for making Musk’s actions speak clearly to a general audience. [Read](https://lwlies.com/venice-film-festival/musk-first-look-review)
- **Slant Magazine**, Kenji Fujishima (2.5/4): The review finds the documentary a damning but not entirely illuminating chronicle of Musk. It praises the exhaustive account of his rise and its especially harrowing examination of fatal crashes involving self-driving Teslas. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/musk-documentary-review-alex-gibney-elon-musk/)
- **Deadline**, Matthew Carey (88/100, inferred): Carey calls the documentary engrossing and Gibney’s most important work, while finding one sensational election-related claim less than completely convincing. He particularly praises its psychological portrait of Musk and its detailed investigation of Tesla’s safety claims. [Read](https://deadline.com/2026/09/musk-review-venice-film-festival-1237070698/)
- **The Wrap** (65/100, inferred): The critic finds the documentary slow to reach its force but ultimately grimly compelling. They praise its immediate, late-film account of the consequences of Musk’s power, while noting the familiar material and lengthy runtime. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/musk-review-alex-gibney-punishing-elon-musk-documentary/)
- **Consequence**, Liz Shannon Miller (30/100, inferred): The critic calls the documentary a vital, nearly comprehensive portrait, but says its truth is more horrifying than its gimmicks. She particularly criticizes the tasteless animated sequences and unsettling digital Elon clone. [Read](https://consequence.net/2026/10/musk-review-alex-gibney-movie-documentary/)

## Details

- **Director:** Alex Gibney
- **Director:** Alex Gibney
- **Writer:** Alex Gibney, Michael J. Palmer
- **Cinematography:** Ben Bloodwell
- **Editor:** Michael J. Palmer
- **Music:** Daniel Pemberton
- **Producer:** Dana O'Keefe, Jessie Deeter, Joey Marra
- **Cast:** Elon Musk as Self (archive footage); Justine Musk as Self; Ashley St. Clair as Self; Kara Swisher as Self; Martin Eberhard as Self; Zoë Schiffer as Self; Geoffrey Hinton as Self
- **Runtime:** 3h 55m
- **First release (Italy):** 9 September 2026
- **Genres:** Documentary
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY_8SyndC10

## Where to watch in Spain

Not streaming, renting or buying in Spain at the last check.

## If you liked this

- *Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room* (2005): Gibney at his tightest: one company, one lie, and no avatars required.
- *Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief* (2015): Gibney on a different kind of empire, with witnesses who are still afraid.
- *The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley* (2019): Elizabeth Holmes and the same question: how long can a promise outrun the product?
- *Citizen Kane* (1941), Fi1m 93: The original study of a rich man who bought a newspaper and then the world. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/citizen-kane.md)
- *Collective* (2019), Fi1m 88: Romanian reporters follow a scandal upwards; patient, furious and under two hours. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/collective.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/musk