Marvel’s “Avengers: Doomsday” should be the biggest movie at the box-office in the months ahead, but Doctor Doom is hardly the only supervillain invading theaters. He shares that distinction with several real-life billionaires.
This week sees the theatrical debuts of “Musk” — a documentary about Tesla CEO Elon Musk that could easily be confused with a horror movie — and “The Social Reckoning,” with actor Jeremy Strong playing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Coming soon are “Artificial,” about Sam Altman and the origins of OpenAI; “Ink,” a look at Rupert Murdoch’s rise in British tabloid newspapers; and “The Altruists,” a Netflix series about convicted crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
“Musk” depicts its subject as a gifted self-promoter and fabulist whose tales come with “massive consequences.”
These works, which reflect deep concern about oligarchy and technology, represent welcome instances of art that dare to be about something. Such courage, unfortunately, could become increasingly rare.
“Musk” and “The Social Reckoning” — the only pre-Halloween entries in this group — each evoke chills, albeit for different reasons.
Directed by Alex Gibney, “Musk” struggles to wrestle all of Musk’s tentacles into a cohesive package, even with a four-hour runtime. The documentary employs strange devices, like a computer-generated Musk, but that’s really the point of the film: capturing mounting apprehension about one man having this much wealth, power and influence amid behavior variously characterized within the documentary as eccentric (including a section on his drug use) and “chaotic,” as author Sam Harris described him.
Delving into the personal and professional, “Musk” depicts its subject as a gifted self-promoter and fabulist whose tales come with “massive consequences,” including to the victims of accidents involving Tesla’s self-driving technology. The most unsettling observation comes from Harris, Musk’s former friend, who says that Musk “unraveled” after Covid-19 and ruthlessly wields his disparate holdings to advance his objectives.
“The Social Reckoning” revisits Facebook, now Meta, 16 years after “The Social Network,” showing how Zuckerberg’s creation prioritized engagement and profit over civic responsibility, and the dire fallout from its algorithmic anger machine.
Again written by Aaron Sorkin (who also directed this time), the movie divides its focus among Zuckerberg (unerringly played by Strong), a Facebook whistleblower (Mikey Madison) and an investigative journalist (Jeremy Allen White) endeavoring to expose what the company has wrought.
This older Zuckerberg comes across as an amoral automaton. As in the first film, he remains dismissive of those around him (“When I say ‘No,’ that’s the end of the debate,” he tells his staff) and seemingly indifferent to Facebook’s collateral damage.
“Musk” presents a compelling case that Musk’s support for Trump in 2024 can be directly traced to Musk’s fear of regulatory consequences under a Democratic administration.
Unsurprisingly, President Donald Trump plays a supporting role in both films. Although Trump goes unnamed, “The Social Reckoning” contemplates Facebook’s role in creating the climate of extremism that led to Jan. 6, while “Musk” presents a compelling case that Musk’s support for Trump in 2024 can be directly traced to Musk’s fear of regulatory consequences under a Democratic administration.
These billionaire-themed projects will likely compete for awards throughout the prestige film season — but their window may be limited. As billionaires have consolidated control over media, their near-bottomless pockets are creating headaches for artists willing to tackle such material. “Artificial” was forced to find another distributor after Amazon backed out. Social media platforms already balked at accepting ads for “Musk,” and though it’s receiving a theatrical release — and surely gained awareness thanks to Musk’s criticism — the two-part film was made for HBO. That network’s new owner, Skydance, has reportedly considered approaching Musk about investing in the new mega-studio created from the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros.
Power-mad billionaires have a rich history as movie villains. Not so long ago, however, their depictions were more fanciful (a media mogul trying to start World War III in the James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies,” for instance).
Today, the high stakes surrounding their actions feel all too palpable. And if studios retreat from chronicling the transgressions of real billionaires to the safety of comic-book bad guys — Doctor Doom, after all, doesn’t attack with an army of lawyers — it will feel like a victory for the villains.
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