Toronto Film Festival 2024

Ron Howard will unquestionably go down as one of the best directors of our time, having directed landmark titles like Apollo 13, Willow, and The Da Vinci Code. I believe no one debates Ron Howard’s credentials as a filmmaker. However, over the last decade, he has been involved in projects that have fallen short. Inferno and Solo: A Star Wars Story failed to achieve significant box office success and received mixed critical responses. I thought his latest film, Eden, would change the trajectory of Ron Howard’s career, but for some, it could be the final nail in the coffin for trusting “Directed by Ron Howard” as a mark of quality. It was for me.

Inspired by the accounts of those who survived, Eden follows Margaret (Sydney Sweeney) and Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Brühl), who move to the abandoned island of Floreana in the Galápagos. They were inspired by Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and Dora Strauch (Vanessa Kirby), who moved there to escape the rise of fascism in Germany. However, they soon discover that the island is far from a tropical paradise, with little drinking water, a lack of shelter, and only the tins of food they brought with them. They must start their new life from scratch. All seems to go well until Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas) and her two lovers arrive.

Eden, at its core, is a grimy and murky film. From its colour grading, which resembles cotton sheets dragged through the mud, to its characters, who look like they haven’t washed in years let alone monthsthe film conveys a raw, unpolished feel. The opening sets a riveting survival-horror tone, similar to the game The Forest, where survival hinges on building and growing crops to avoid death. While the introduction is far from perfect, with the cast’s accents feeling jarring, it’s not entirely bad. That is, until Ana de Armas’s character washes up on shore, altering both the landscape of the island and the film itself—for the worse.

Ana de Armas’s performance feels almost pantomime—overdramatic and comically evil to the point where it becomes unbearable to watch. Her portrayal stands out compared to the rest of the cast, whether due to her interpretation of the character from the script or the direction she received from Ron Howard. This results in an unlikeable and uninteresting character. While this shouldn’t be a problem since she is meant to be the villain, the person who shakes the island to its core, the issue arises when many scenes revolve around characters debating whether to deal with Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn to restore peace, yet they are forced to be “nice” to this comical villain. This leads to flat, uninspired conflict on screen.

The dull conflicts also make Eden feel long for a film that’s just over two hours. At times, it feels like it’s been on for an eternity. Eden is simply not a very good film. While it aims to be a dark and somewhat melodramatic thriller, this is not what appears on screen. Instead, Eden is boring and frustrating, suffering from a lack of clear vision from Ron Howard. I wanted to like this movie, but instead, this review is written by someone who merely survived watching Eden.