Movie · 2025 · Thriller, Drama · 2h 9m · R · English
Curator score: 1.9/10 (136K ratings)
Inspired by the accounts of those who survived.
Overview
A group of disillusioned outsiders abandon modern society in search of a new beginning. Settling on a remote, uninhabited island, their utopian dream quickly unravels as they discover that the greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.9/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 2.98/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 58%
Metacritic: 58
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Ron Howard
Production
Imagine Entertainment, AGC Studios, Library Pictures International
Cast
Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney, Vanessa Kirby, Felix Kammerer, Toby Wallace, Jonathan Tittel, Ignacio Gasparini, Richard Roxburgh, Paul Gleeson, Thiago Moraes, Nicholas Denton, Tim Ross, Antonio Alvarez, Benjamín Gorroño
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, star-driven survival drama with a nasty streak, Eden is most interesting when it leans into the collapse of a utopian fantasy and the way power, vanity, and desire poison the group dynamic. It has strong performances and a compelling premise, but the film’s tone and pacing can feel uneven, and it never fully escapes the sense that the real story is better than the movie’s execution.
Best for
Viewers who like survival stories that turn into psychological power struggles
Fans of prestige dramas with a dark, satirical edge
Audiences interested in true-story-inspired tales of isolation and social breakdown
Viewers drawn to ensemble acting and scenery-driven tension
Skip if
You want a tight, relentlessly suspenseful thriller
You prefer subtle, naturalistic character drama over heightened melodrama
You are looking for a fully rigorous historical account
You dislike stories where interpersonal conflict overtakes the survival element
Overview
Eden starts with a classic escape-from-civilization fantasy and steadily reveals how fragile that fantasy is once ego, ideology, and lust get involved. The island setting gives the film a harsh, elemental backdrop, but the real pressure comes from the people trying to build a new world and immediately recreating the old one.
Worth noting
The cast keeps it watchable even when the script feels uneven. There’s a campy, almost feverish quality to some of the performances that works in the film’s favor, especially as the group’s internal hierarchy shifts and the “utopia” becomes a battleground.
Bottom line
As a survival drama, it’s more compelling as a study of human vanity and manipulation than as a pure thriller. When it clicks, it’s sharp and vicious; when it doesn’t, it can feel choppy and overdetermined. Still, it has enough bite and star power to make it worth a look for the right audience.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Eden (2★) · 1805 likes
Tiff 2024
Not gonna say who but there are 5 people in this movie doing their take on a German accent and it is not german nor an accent
RiccCozz (3★) · 1245 likes
Nude Law
Robbie (4★) · 1188 likes
Sydney Sweeney have a normal childbirth scene challenge [impossible]
fran hoepfner (3★) · 994 likes
Jude Law no teeth ✅
Frau Sydney Sweeney ✅
2nd movie in last couple years where Sydney Sweeney has to deliver a baby alone by reaching up into her uterus and pulling it out ✅
Ana de Armas either doing career worst work or slaying but it's impossible to know ✅
seems to posit that colonialism is good if done by nice people and not rude people ✅
documentary about the subject would have probably been better ✅
2006 · Action, Drama, History · 2h 18m · R · Curator 6.9/10 (642.3K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock Premium, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
A relentless chase-and-survival narrative driven by primal conflict and bodily peril.
A famous castaway tale about isolation, desire, and the fantasy of starting over.
Topics
survival thriller, psychological drama, island setting, utopian collapse, ensemble cast, historical drama, dark satire, isolation, power struggle, period piece