Ron Howard’s “Eden” is a morbidly fascinating depiction of a group of adventurous Europeans who traveled to the island of Floreana and created a home in the tropics.
We meet the acclaimed Dr. Ritter (Jude Law), whose manifesto on Floreana is why others gradually journey there. Dr. Ritter lives a bitter existence with his fed-up wife (Vanessa Kirby) and spends most of his time typing away at a purported game-changer of a new book.
Heinz (Daniel Bruhl) and Margaret (Sydney Sweeney) arrive on Floreana, in the midst of the Galapagos Islands, with their young boy and a lot of foolish optimism. The most intriguing of the newcomers is the Baroness Eloise (Ana de Armas), a real piece of work who brings along two servants and the intent of creating a massive resort.
The Baroness claims to be there to create an industry, but quickly establishes her need to control and manipulate everyone who opposes her.
This is a true story that took place in 1929.
One of the most intriguing elements is how early use of film captures the inhabitants – we see this moment recreated, then the actual footage plays over the end credits. I wonder if “Eden” would have been better as a documentary, which at least would have saved us from the freak show of watching actors I like yell and squabble with each other for two hours.
New Podcast! “Ron Howard, “Eden”” on @Spreaker https://t.co/s7chdz8Yzk
— Brad Gilmore (@bradgilmore) August 22, 2025
The cast demonstrates their willingness to sport German accents that are all over the place – only Bruhl is off the hook, while everyone else bravely chomps down on their rehearsed dialects, only to have it waver enough that we often hear their normal speaking voices slinking through.
Kirby is given one note to play, and Bruhl has a similar problem. Either their best scenes wound up lost in the edit, or they actually chose roles that required one single emotion and matching facial expression.
The work of de Armas is actually courageous, as she sinks her teeth into arguably the most despicable character. I admire the high-wire act she pulls off, as her work here is never timid or afraid of coming across as unflattering.
Late in the film, de Armas has a scene she shares with Richard Roxburgh that hits hard and is refreshingly straightforward in its assessment of human behavior.
Howard may have intended this to be a grown-up exploration of “Lord of the Flies” behavior and human weakness, but it winds up episodic and melodramatic enough to come across like a soap opera.
Imagine “The Beach” (2000) without Leonardo DiCaprio or the all-but-forgotten “At Play in the Fields of the Lord” (1992).
The color palette is muted, as though Howard was determined to deprive his audience of the visual beauty of the surroundings. “Eden” always appears as though filmed on a cloudy day. Likewise, Hans Zimmer’s score is devoid of the exciting themes and beauty we’ve come to expect from his work.
On a scene-to-scene basis, the film becomes a game of picking which character you hate the most and predicting which one will crack first. Watching “Survivor” was never this sadistic, nor were the most insufferable episodes of “Gilligan’s Island.”
Ron, why are you trying to hurt us with this movie?
Actually, Howard has been at this for a while – for every crowd pleaser, he’d sneak in something cold, ruthless and really mean. After Howard’s “The Paper” (1994), a roaring newsroom comedy, he gave us “Ransom” (1996). Following the Oscar-winning “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) came the bristling, no-mercy western, “The Missing” (2003).
It figures that the director of “Splash” (1984) would have a dark side – dark is one thing, punishing is another. Even Lars Von Trier knows when to step back and insert a little humor or fantasy interlude to give his audience a breath.
I’m not saying Howard can’t challenge himself and his audience. Yet, he’s unquestionably had better luck making movies about, to give a few examples, geriatrics who go to outer space and creating a mythic portrait of firefighters than the movies where his cast repeatedly screams at one another.
The preview night audience I saw this with reacted audibly during the graphic nude scenes, but hardly at all during moments of savage violence. It’s probably because the former was actually surprising, while the latter was inevitable.
That’s an overall problem with “Eden,” as a cluster of unlikable characters butt heads for two hours until their skulls eventually crack, which hardly makes for a movie, let alone a wrestling match. As good as Law and de Armas are here, everyone in the cast has been better elsewhere.
Two Stars