Tesla

PG-13

Released Aug 21, 2020

1 hr. 42 min.

Biography

History

Drama

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List

58%

186 Reviews

Tomatometer

43%

Fewer than 50 Verified Ratings

Audience Score

Visionary inventor Nikola Tesla fights an uphill battle to bring his revolutionary electrical system to fruition, then faces thornier challenges with his new system for worldwide wireless energy.

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Critics Consensus

Appropriately bold and ambitious, Tesla takes a number of risks that don't always pay off -- but Ethan Hawke's performance makes those flaws easier to forgive.

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alexandra a

sometimes a little slow. I wish they had shown the end of their life

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/12/20

Full Review

Jami Coker

Left out many important details of his life and his accomplishments. His singing the song at the end was so irrelevant and his singing was terrible!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/07/20

Full Review

Joseph

Very well acted but a bit slow moving in portions.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/27/20

Full Review

Lily Baeza

Tesla is the greatest and Edison is an ignorant douche. Amazing movie, love how they included his illness, wish they would of portrayed it more though.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/23/20

Full Review

June

A really weird interpretation of Tesla's life. Very slow and disjointed. Wouldn't really recommend

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

08/23/20

Full Review

Josiah

Wow! So much potential yet SUCH a let down. It's like they wanted it to be a documentary, a comedy, and throw in some romance and did poorly in all three areas. At least the theater was open

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

08/23/20

Full Review

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Michael Almereyda

Director

Ethan Hawke

Nikola Tesla

Kyle MacLachlan

Thomas Edison

Eve Hewson

Anne Morgan

Jim Gaffigan

George Westinghouse

Hannah Gross

Mina Edison

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61%

79%

The Current War: Director's Cut

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for The Current War: Director's Cut

85%

61%

Experimenter

62%

42%

Radioactive

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11%

78%

Bigger

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for Bigger

91%

98%

Cabrini

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Tesla: Trailer 1

2:12

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Randy Myers

San Jose Mercury News

Almereyda’s wildly creative Nikola Tesla biopic...defies conventions...

Rated: 3.5/4

Dec 23, 2022

Full Review

Clarisse Loughrey

Independent (UK)

The biopic is an impossible art. You either bore your audience or reduce your subject to a mere collection of ideas and symbols.

Rated: 3/5

Sep 25, 2020

Full Review

Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

It won't spark for everyone but I found it intriguing and unexpected.

Sep 20, 2020

Full Review

Dave Giannini

InSession Film

So, is Tesla a bad movie? No, you can certainly do worse. Plus, accomplished actors Hawke and MacLachlan carry it across the mediocre finish line. Is it a good movie, though? Definitely not.

Rated: C+

Feb 20, 2024

Full Review

Bethan Ackerley

New Scientist

The film rarely finds the will to be interested in the man Tesla actually was. Coupled with its incoherent – if striking – aesthetic, this means Tesla too often feels like an empty frame, or a motor without the power to keep it running.

Jul 19, 2023

Full Review

Vadim Rizov

Filmmaker Magazine

With its time almost up, Tesla suddenly snaps into sharp emotional focus, and the subsequent epilogue clarified this often-mysterious movie’s agenda—as an emotional way to process aging, failure, missed opportunities and death, much more my speed...

Dec 1, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Visionary inventor Nikola Tesla fights an uphill battle to bring his revolutionary electrical system to fruition, then faces thornier challenges with his new system for worldwide wireless energy.

Director: Michael Almereyda
Executive Producer: Mayra Auad, Lee Broda, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jeff Gum
Screenwriter: Michael Almereyda
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Passage Pictures, Intrinsic Value Films, Jeff Rice Films, Campbell Grobman Films, RNG Entertainment
Rating: PG-13 (Some Thematic Material|Nude Images)
Genre: Biography, History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 21, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 19, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $93.0K

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