UK | Greece | Cyprus | USA | France | Italy | Australia 2026
Opening October 15, 2026
Directed by: Romain Gavras
Writing credits: Romain Gavras, Will Arbery
Principal actors: Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Vincent Cassel, Jonatan “Yung Lean” Leandoer, Jade Croot
An environmental event staged by Poseidon Alliance is glitz, glamour and an essential backdrop for its trendy A-list attendees. For Mike Tyler (Chris Evans), it is a comeback; for Oliver (Sam Richardson), his agent, it means Mike’s existential crisis is in the rearview mirror with future sights on work/money. Greece’s cavernous marble setting for the benefit-cum-conference, its richly dressed crème-de-la-creme and its towering neon slogans—“Make Earth Cool Again”—blare success. Its filthy rich sponsor Ben Bracken (Vincent Cassel) with voluptuous wife Gloria (Salma Hayek) are settling in as Anna’s (Miriam Silverman) loquacious MCing introduce the topic-focused entertainment. Mother and Daughter Nature’s (Charli XCX, Ambika Mod respectfully) song routine’s clear message and the unflappable dancers are reaching the routine’s zenith when… rat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat—stop clapping! This is not the crescendo but an eco-terrorist takeover. Led by Joan (Anya Taylor-Joy), Arthur (Jonatan “Yung Lean” Leandoer), and Louise (Jade Croot), the visionary extremists’ unshakable belief is either the bubbling volcano within view of the coastline receives a few sacrifices, or the end of the world is at hand. In natural order and easy as squeezing a trigger three abductees are chosen, chaos erupts, rescue teams with helicopters arrive all agog, notoriety explodes, et al. Nevertheless, Mike manages to put in place a milestone performance.
It is hard to pinpoint just where director Romain Gavras’s hodgepodge of a film goes out of kilter. Cowritten with playwright/screenwriter Will Arbery there is character driven drama, a tense, badly gone wrong thriller, satirical slapstick, and soft sci-fi with characters consisting of fusions of contemporary personalities of varying significance. The cast’s strong performances maintain audiences focus, particularly Chris Evans’s interpretation of Mike Tyler; John Malkovich and Jeremy O. Harris make cameo appearances. The pacing is slapdash (Benjamin Weill, editing); otherwise, production values are sound: Matias Boucard, director of photography filming in Bulgaria, Greece, and Iceland; Hannah Edwards, costumes; and Arnaud Roth, production design. Gener8ion’s score is original and enjoyable, even when portending to doom somewhere on the horizon. With everything so over-the-top, the challenge for audiences is keeping track of the meandering story with its emotional contrasts, gaps, and attitude. 103 minutes (Marinell H.)