Gibney’s Elon Musk Documentary Packs a Punch But Is More Retweet Than Revelation

Following the New York Film Festival premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s film “Artificial,” principal cast members, including likely Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield, who portrays Open AI honcho Sam Altman, sat for an onstage discussion.The topics were mostly boilerplate, but an amusing moment happened when Ike Barinholtz, from “The Studio,” was asked how he had approached the portraying of Elon Musk, the principal Open AI financier in the teens. Ike went for a little humor. “Well, when you’re playing someone who’s universally beloved,” Barinholtz quipped, “and a man whom everybody admires…” The audience guffawed and the point was made.Everyone respects Mr. Musk’s immense wealth, of course, but many also subscribe to the popular perception of him as a louche and swaggering piece of work. He’s not necessarily my idea of a “bad” guy, but he certainly behaves like a pushy, egoistic, larger-than-life manipulator and power-monger.Before “Artificial” began shooting last year, Mr. Guadagnino told Mr. Barinholtz that his performance “should not be about what I think of Elon…it should be about discovering what Elon loves about himself.” In “Artificial,” Mr. Musk comes off as an impulsive bully who doesn’t care if he occasionally ticks people off. He’s testy, occasionally sullen, blunt-spoken, and impatient. But he’s never boring.Never forget Elon Musk is someone who told the Saturday Night Live audience in 2021: “Tonight, as the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL…I have to ask, given all the accomplishments and innovations, did you also think I was gonna be a chill, normal dude?”The poster for ‘Musk.’ Bleecker Street FilmsAlex Gibney’s “Musk,” a recently opened, nearly three hour documentary about the 55-year-old South African émigré supplies a candid and blistering portrayal of its subject. It’s comprehensive and fast-moving. If one ignores the personal-psychological stuff — especially Elon’s relationship with his father Errol Musk — then Mr. Musk has shown himself to be quite the marketing dynamo in terms of Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/X, and other business realms.But then there was the DOGE episode and his brief 2025 alliance with Donald Trump. “Musk” swamps your mind and leaves you feeling a bit woozy. One certainly emerges from Mr. Gibney’s film with a diminished view of Elon. Mr. Musk, we come to realize, is basically an idea guy, a marketer, and a dynamic bullshitter who, his genius-level intelligence aside, has what most of us would call a limited technical skillset.Elon isn’t wrong in despising of the woke mind virus, but he’s something of a malignant visionary. And no one, incidentally, is coming back from Mars alive.The least surprising material details how Mr. Musk has been a profligate seed-spreader over the years (14 acknowledged kids so far), and how his devotion to his own legend has never allowed much room for any kind of trusting, semi-conventional husband-wife relationship. Mr. Musk couldn’t care less about finding his soulmate; he is seemingly not much into wading into the waters of emotional exposure.I’d half forgotten that Mr. Musk stole credit for Tesla, which Martin Eberhard co-founded 22 years ago. By throwing Mr. Eberhard down the well and blotting out his memory in every conceivable realm, Mr. Musk long ago made Tesla his own. But this kind of me-me-me ruthlessness is almost to be expected from a guy like Musk. I’d also forgotten about the Tesla battery-swap fraud.As Variety critic Owen Gleiberman noted in his review, “Once you start piecing together Musk’s scandals and cut corners and slipshod management, you see that he’s a creator of mirages who promises more than he delivers.”It’s impossible to render a comprehensive, insightful verdict on Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter/X in the space of a relatively brief review. But didn’t everyone start to absorb and digest Mr. Musk’s tornado-strength, ultra-dynamic business history a few years ago? Smart, comprehensive and vigorous as it is, Mr. Gibney’s “Musk” is basically just a long, detailed, visually punchy recap.As Alex Gibney himself has said, “In classic cinema, directors are taught to pay attention to framing a master shot that defines the coverage. In public discourse, Elon Musk has learned how to craft his own master shots which, in turn, have defined his image. ‘Musk’ reframes the story of the tech titan as the 21st century reincarnation of the confidence man.”Mr. Musk’s facial features — aggressive cheekbones, tiny eyes, shortish hair — and his barrel-chested physique don’t exactly say “matinee-idol handsome.” But you can’t say he doesn’t radiate a certain excitement from a deep-down place. Call it a contact-high vibe…a seemingly insuppressable current of fast and loose mansplaining. And I’m glad that Mr. Musk had his hairline fixed several years ago with micro hair plugs — it’s definitely an improvement.Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump meets with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, at the White House on February 13, 2025. Via Alex Brandon/APWhen Mr. Musk gets into his 70s and 80s he’s going to be a much more interesting person than he is right now. Mr. Gibney doesn’t mull this over either. Mostly his documentary sounds a general alarm about Mr. Musk representing a danger that may or may not get worse.Yet Elon Musk isn’t my idea of evil, malicious. or even necessarily ruthless, at least not on a consistent, steady-drumbeat basis. He’s just indifferent to the social and business-realm rules of behavior that simply don’t, in his mind, appeal to or apply to him.I realize I’m essentially describing a sociopath here, but from a spectator standpoint aren’t intriguing sociopaths mostly preferable to mousy consensus-followers? I enjoyed Mr. Musk’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” conversation from 2023, when he struck me as more or less human. Aren’t we all?

Gibney’s Elon Musk Documentary Packs a Punch But Is More Retweet Than Revelation

Gibney’s Elon Musk Documentary Packs a Punch But Is More Retweet Than Revelation

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