Gibney's Four-Hour Musk Documentary Pulls in Two Directions

Alex Gibney has built a career on documentaries that press powerful people hard, and the new film about Elon Musk fits that pattern. Running about four hours, it is provocative and often compelling, according to a review that also finds the running time works against it.

Length is the core problem. Four hours gives a documentary room to go deep, but it also gives every slow passage room to drag. The review's central complaint is that the film feels like two different movies sharing one title: a sharp, confrontational portrait on one side and a more diffuse survey on the other.

Repetition is the second problem. Musk has been the subject of books, long profiles, and years of coverage of Tesla, SpaceX, and X, so anyone who has followed that saga closely will recognize much of what appears on screen. A film about someone this heavily covered has to justify itself with access, a new angle, or a fresh reading of the record. The review suggests this one offers less of that than its length implies. Viewers who expect a revelation may come away disappointed, while those who want a clear, if lengthy, summary of the record will find one.

The film is not a write-off. Its appetite for confrontation keeps it lively, and viewers who have only half-followed Musk's business and public life may find more here than longtime observers will. For everyone else, it is a long sit with a familiar story, worth it for the strongest stretches and easy to pause in the middle.