As I’ve been spending the past several days at TIFF 2026 seeing movies that really interested me personally, I figured I should also check out some that are particularly relevant to MobileSyrup. And really, of the nearly 300 films screening at the festival, is there anything as core to what we cover than Musk, a documentary about the quintessential Tech Bro, Elon Musk?
Admittedly, though, I was also curious to see how Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) would handle Musk, a man whom I despise in every way imaginable. And I have to say: it’s an impressive film, even if some edits could have been made to make it tighter.
For one, the nearly four-hour runtime is excessive, making this drag at times due to Gibney’s methodical approach to unpacking pretty much every angle of the wildly erroneous mythology that Musk has spun for himself. To be sure, a lot of that is intriguing, especially his early (failed) work at Zip2 and subsequent work to make himself synonymous with Tesla despite having minimal foundational involvement, as we see him admit in archival footage. And of course, such an influential figure warrants this kind of deep dive.
But what’s less excusable is Gibney’s use of a digital avatar to stand in for Musk who, as the doc explains from the get-go, naturally declined to take part after a Twitter spat with Gibney. On the one hand, using an apparent “deepfake” (which is supposedly actual CGI) to represent the artifice of an unbelievably fragile man who freely schills for AI slop and even child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is certainly fitting. But in practice, it just looks garish and pads out the runtime.
Given that he’s maybe the most vain and terminally online person alive, especially for a quinquagenarian, there’s more than enough real footage, tweets and the like that could have been used alongside the impressively well-rounded lineup of interviewees that Gibney has assembled. (This includes, surprisingly, Musk’s father Errol and former right-wing grifter and Musk baby mama Ashley St. Clair.)
And finally, Gibney’s use of these video game-esque visual elements to represent Musk’s obsession with gaming, including FPS-like sequences of him “cleaning shop” at Twitter and U.S. government agencies, are repetitive and overlong, a feeling that is only more pronounced considering the staggering length of the doc.
How would you know? https://t.co/q6oNeEjo7T
— Alex Gibney (@alexgibneyfilm) March 7, 2023
With all of that said, the film is extremely thorough. The first half examines his business ventures and marriage with Canadian author Justine Musk, who talks about how he told her on their wedding night that he’s the “alpha” in their relationship. It’s rich and awkwardly funny context for Musk’s desperate need to feel like a big, respected man, even as he’s so clearly the complete opposite.
But the second half feels like a straight-up horror film, with Gibney examining the repercussions that someone so juvenile and untalented could have with so much power. In this latter stretch, we get a deep dive into how something inside of Musk snapped amid the COVID-19 pandemic and his daughter Vivian’s trans awakening, leading to his significant interest in politics and, eventually, his close relationship with Donald Trump that helped him become president once again. Musk is particularly effective as it examines the steep costs that his “DOGE” cuts had on global affairs, leading to millions of deaths and other horrible acts of destruction, as well as his obsession with having an unknown number of kids whom he refers to as “legion.”
Image credit: CBS News
But the film is at its most terrifying when it explores just how much global data Musk has accumulated throughout his many ventures. As Wired‘s Calgary-born global editorial director Katie Drummond told us during a Q&A, it’s the wider implications surrounding this that are most unsettling. What, exactly, does he intend to do with all of this? It’s frightening to consider.
And that’s ultimately why Musk works so well. It doesn’t offer too much in the way of new revelations — understandable, given how ubiquitous a figure Musk has become. But as a pretty exhaustive look at how we got to where we are, it’s an undeniable success. The fact that Universal, which shelled out big money to acquire distribution rights to the film, is now reportedly getting cold feet for political reasons, only makes Gibney’s film all the more crucial.
Now if you need me, I’m going to need a shower.
Musk opens in theatres on Oct. 9 ahead of a planned streaming release on HBO and Crave.
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