The new four-hour documentary “Musk” opens with a view of Earth from space. The planet glows against the dark background before quickly exploding into a ball of flame. It’s a disturbing image to preface a film about the richest and arguably most powerful man in the world, Elon Musk.
The film is the product of four years of work by director Alex Gibney, whose previous films investigated Scientology (“Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”) and Elizabeth Holmes (“The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley”). Gibney initially approached the film as a fan of Musk, the owner of a Tesla energy storage system and solar panels. But as he researched, it was clear that he became skeptical of Musk’s mythical image, ultimately equating his fans with bigots. Musk refused to participate in the film, so the filmmakers created a macho avatar of the tech titan, equipped with artificial intelligence, who delivers lines taken from archival interviews. It’s a strange but effective way to get around lack of access.
Debuting in theaters nationwide on October 16 after screening this week at the Mill Valley Film Festival, “Musk” generously includes a well-deserved intermission. Although Musk’s father makes an appearance, his childhood in South Africa is largely glossed over, instead tracing Elon’s career starting with his first business, the online tour guide site Zip2. His sale to Compaq Computer in 1999 brought him his first big profit: $22 million. Next came early payment platform X.com, which Musk was kicked out of but still earned him another massive payday, to the tune of $180 million. Next came SpaceX, followed by Tesla, Starlink, Twitter, xAI, and the Department of Government Effectiveness, with common themes of Musk overpromising, underperforming, taking credit for the work of others, and continuing to fail in one way or another.
If you’re the kind of news junkie who’s followed Musk’s career closely over the past decade, there won’t be much breaking news here, but seeing the full range of Musk’s triumphs and incompetences highlights his immense power and underlying darkness. Its environmental influence through Tesla is undermined by the irresponsible deployment of autonomous driving and the shady abuse of carbon credit programs. One of his superpowers, according to the filmmakers, is his uncanny ability to extract money from the federal government ($21 billion in government funds for SpaceX alone). Avoiding government regulation is another of his greatest strengths, with DOGE cuts coincidentally overlapping with those of agencies investigating his businesses. However, when it comes to saving money for the government, his DOGE project fails miserably, ending up inflating the deficit due to the layoff of thousands of IRS agents.
Among the main talking heads are Reid Hoffman, Musk’s PayPal colleague and LinkedIn co-founder, and his former friend and neuroscientist Sam Harris, as well as tech journalists Kara Swisher and Zoë Schiffer. They all offer damning perspectives on Musk’s evolution over the years, from engineering prodigy to “mad technoking” to ruthless takedown of the federal government.
The most compelling voices are those of Musk’s former romantic partners. The father of 14 children (of whom we know about), Musk remarked that he wanted a “legion” of offspring. Grimes and Shivon Zilis (with whom he recently fell out publicly) aren’t interviewed, but the filmmakers speak at length with Justine Musk, the mother of his first five children, and Ashley St. Clair, a conservative influencer who recently revealed she also had a child by Elon.
Justine explained how she came to understand the term gaslighting from her husband, how he told her 15 things that were wrong with her and once said that if she were his employee he would fire her. She also goes into detail regarding the death of their first child and his reprehensible treatment of their transgender daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson. St. Clair offers the most salacious details. She describes Elon’s DMs on She turned down a whopping $40 million nondisclosure agreement, allowing her to share messages from their early courtships, as well as personal texts, many of which are displayed on screen. Although frank, she avoids some questions, including about Elon’s reported drug use. But she goes so far as to question the certainty with which he envisaged the re-election of President Donald Trump, without going so far as to insinuate a conspiracy (Elon threatened the film with a defamation suit but did not file one).
Overall, “Musk” is an expertly crafted documentary and feels like the definitive portrait of a man who, at just 55 years old, has had an unprecedented influence on American life. However, for those who have followed his career over the years, there won’t be many new revelations, and the four-hour length makes it feel like running a marathon. The film ends as it began, with an explosive image of Earth. For all his power, the film suggests, Musk is no longer aiming his influence at saving the planet – he is far more likely to lead to its demise.
Gn entert
