Gold - Movie Reviews (2024)

A taut, focused, and surprisingly potent thriller. It also features a terrific Zac Efron performance that gives long-time naysayers like me a chance to rethink our past feelings on the 34-year-old actor.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 16, 2022

... This film is occasionally artful, but mostly mirthless and ugly and hopeless.

Full Review | Jul 14, 2022

Zac Efron more than carries this effective post-apocalyptic 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre' set in the Australian outback.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 28, 2022

Never more than the sum of its parts, but those parts always do what they're meant to — and glitter as brightly as they need to.

Full Review | Jun 25, 2022

The tension is shallow and flat, only contributing to more frustrations with such a banal narrative.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Jun 8, 2022

Gritty and minimalist, Gold is a desert survival story with an ending that could've been better, but the movie's lead performance by Zac Efron is compelling enough to maintain viewer interest.

Full Review | Apr 22, 2022

Even with Hayes bag of directing tricks, and with Efrons go-for-broke performance, theres no covering up the barebones state of the screenplay.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 17, 2022

In short, its hard to tell if Efrons acting carries "Gold" because its narrative is so stripped-down. As a movie, things play out as an obvious parable about the greed that grips mens hearts once civilizations fires die out.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Apr 16, 2022

Stretches [Efron's] range and physical endurance far beyond anything his fans ever dreamed of.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 31, 2022

It's really a little too threadbare and derivative for its own good.

Full Review | Mar 30, 2022

Gold doesnt have a lot of cards to play story-wise, but it handles them well.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 24, 2022

Gold should intrigue Zac Efron fans, and rightly so. Hes very good here and almost single-handedly saves the film.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 23, 2022

Efron's dystopian fable is something of a treasure: Its message is delivered with such visual impact that you'll never be able to scrub it from your memory.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 21, 2022

Look, I dont know that any of us would have anticipated Zac Efron starring in a low-budget Australian hybrid of Cast Away and The Road Warrior. Even fewer of us would have anticipated that it would be good. Quite good, actually. But here we are.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 19, 2022

Often anemic, tedious and monotonous despite Zac Efron's raw performance.

Full Review | Mar 18, 2022

Directed and co-written by Anthony Hayes, Zac Efron’s latest film reminds us that nature usually wins in man’s attempt to dominate it.

Full Review | Mar 17, 2022

When your two main characters are named in the credits as Man One and Man Two, you may get a sneaking suspicion that the story you've just seen is something of a metaphor.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 16, 2022

Minimalist post-apocalyptic films are their own subgenre but Gold is just a good movie. Hayes' vision is exquisite & Efron's on a higher acting plane.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 15, 2022

Driven by a career-best Zac Efron performance, Gold is an effective if unremarkable survival thriller.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.5/10 | Mar 14, 2022

In a dry, dusty, desperate landscape, Zac Efron goes full grunge, effectively underplaying physical and psychological implosion. But theres nothing unexpected in this brutal open-air chamber piece.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 13, 2022