Eden (2025)

By: Mike Ward on Saturday, August 23

R Running Time: 129 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

The early portion of Eden is strange, eccentric, and unlike any Ron Howard movie you have seen before.
Sydney Sweeney grounds the film, calming it down for a bit, and gives the film it’s most memorable moments.
Ana de Armas, on the other hand, goes big and wild and delivers the film’s most manic and unpredictable performance.

NO

For all the promise and intrigue the film starts with, Eden fails to sustain its momentum and devolves into monotony and tedium.
I don’t have to like every character in a movie, but are we intentionally trying to make all of these people so insufferable and grating to be around? Does that make for an entertaining viewing experience?
The visuals, the narrative surprises, the discoveries on the island - Howard loses his grip on a film that feels much, much longer than 129 minutes by the end.

OUR REVIEW

Eden is wild. Eden is bonkers. And far from the utopia that Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) imagined when he and his wife Dore Strauch (Vanessa Kirby) left Germany for the remote island of Floreana in the Galápagos.

The year is 1929 and Ritter sees Floreana as a place of peace for solitude and recovery. Despite those wishes, Ritter’s written letters about living in Floreana make it back to his hometown German newspapers and make him and Dore something of celebrities. As he plans to write a manifesto about the world’s decline, their quiet existence is soon disrupted.

Fellow Germans Heinz and Margret Wittmer (Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney), along with teenage son Harry (Jonathan Tittel), are the first to arrive. Seeking a fresh start, and inspired by Ritter’s writing, they are largely dismissed immediately by the “Adam and Eve” of the island and are forced to relocate to another part of the island.

And soon thereafter, all hell breaks loose with the arrival of Baroness Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn, portrayed in a fearless, go-for-broke performance by Ana de Armas.

As she literally arrives at the island, being carried on the shoulders of her two lovers (Felix Kammerer, Toby Wallace), within minutes she has orchestrated a celebratory ménage à trois in the ocean. de Armas shakes up the film with a carnal lust and diabolically chaotic personality. The Baroness hopes to build an exclusive “millionaire’s club” luxury hotel and resort, completely at odds with the Ritters and Wittmers intentions of settling on the island.

At this point, Eden is a bit unhinged and feels like it could be a lot of fun. Certainly it exists as the “least Ron Howard” movie of Ron Howard’s career. Known for his steady, disciplined storytelling, the legendary director rides the wave of eccentricity until he loses his grip on what makes the first 30-45 minutes of Eden interesting. His film ultimately devolves into tedium, with the film’s 129-minute running time feeling longer, like a more drawn out idea for a television miniseries.

The main issue is that Noah Pink’s screenplay fails to make these characters interesting beyond their initial quirks and outbursts. After all, there are only so many sharp barbs and stinging rebukes we can witness before we grow exhausted with everything. Instead of finding someone we can root for, we start hoping they would just stay on the island forever and actually just leave society alone.

In terms of characters, the women fare best. de Armas is lusty and impulsive while Kirby shows a stern demeanor. And it is Sweeney who gives a softer, quieter performance that resonates as Margret. Upon her arrival, the film feels as if it is told from her perspective, through her observations and discoveries. Though somewhat submissive to Heinz, her surprise pregnancy offers a major moment in the film - a harrowing childbirth scene that proves to be Eden’s signature sequence.

Once Sweeney takes a backseat however, the movie feels listless. Cinematographer Mathias Herndl’s visuals lose their sense of wonder and Howard loses the intrigue found in the opening portion of the film. If the intent is to make Florenana feel like a dismal, miserable place to be, then perhaps Howard succeeds after all. Though does that make Eden worth your time?

Giving credit to Howard for trying something new is one thing, but Eden is hardly enchanting. The 2013 documentary, The Galapagos Affair: Satan Comes to Eden, covered this strange story in a more complete, if not still speculative, manner.

Howard’s version simply turns monotonous. Eden is a curious visit, but the stay becomes interminable.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas, Jonathan Tittel, Richard Roxburgh, Felix Kammerer, Toby Wallace, Ignacio Gasparini, Paul Gleeson, Tim Ross

Director: Ron Howard
Written by: Noah Pink (screenplay), Noah Pink, Ron Howard (story)
Release Date: August 22, 2025
Vertical Releasing

The early portion of Eden is strange, eccentric, and unlike any Ron Howard movie you have seen before.

Sydney Sweeney grounds the film, calming it down for a bit, and gives the film it’s most memorable moments.

Ana de Armas, on the other hand, goes big and wild and delivers the film’s most manic and unpredictable performance.

For all the promise and intrigue the film starts with, Eden fails to sustain its momentum and devolves into monotony and tedium.

I don’t have to like every character in a movie, but are we intentionally trying to make all of these people so insufferable and grating to be around? Does that make for an entertaining viewing experience?

The visuals, the narrative surprises, the discoveries on the island - Howard loses his grip on a film that feels much, much longer than 129 minutes by the end.