Media praise eco-terrorist film 'How to Blow Up a Pipeline': 'Rational if desperate pragmatism'

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The Big Saturday Show co-hosts discuss the new film, ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ and the latest climate craze.

The 2023 film adaptation of "How to Blow Up A Pipeline," based on eco-terrorist Andreas Malm’s 2021 book of the same name, received overwhelmingly positive reviews from many notable media outlets following its release on April 7.

The movie takes inspiration from the nonfiction work, adapting it as an "eco-thriller" following fictional characters and their attempts to sabotage a pipeline.

Around the time of the film’s release, "How to Blow Up A Pipeline," which previously premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, several mainstream media offered praised for the movie’s quality as well as its political message. 

Andreas Malm’s book "How to Blow Up A Pipeline" was originally released in 2021. (Photo by Stefan Sauer/picture alliance via Getty Images)

The Washington Post labeled the film as "rational if desperate pragmatism." Rolling Stone Magazine went as far as to call it the "Hottest Date Movie of the Season." The Hollywood Reporter also previewed the film as, "A Compelling Heist Thriller for the Climate Crisis Era." 

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"It functions more as a plea to the Global North — the wealthiest countries in the world and those currently shielded from the worst of climate disaster — to pay attention," Hollywood Reporter film critic Lovia Gyarkye wrote.   

Film and television media outlets also supported the film following its release. TheWrap wrote, "Daniel Goldhaber’s Soderbergh-ian film ignites an urgent sense of activism through a stellar ensemble cast and sophisticated direction." Vulture described the film as wanting "to pick a fight, and it does so with an appealing lack of artifice, its heart on its sleeve and its agenda in its punching fists." Variety also praised the film while lamenting "climate deniers" who will likely "decry" the movie.

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"Whether their actions constitute ‘eco-terrorism’ and whether violence of any kind is ever justifiable in the service of progress are questions Daniel Goldhaber’s sophomore feature duly grapples with. Still, its degree of moral self-examination is unlikely to appease climate deniers, who’ll likely decry the film (if they notice it at all) as a recruitment poster for aspiring saboteurs," Variety writer Dennis Harvey wrote, saying the film was more "nuanced" than that.

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More liberal outlets also voiced their support for the message in the film, despite its support for climate change sabotage.

"We’ll have to become the investment risk, as Malm writes and as the film adaptation depicts, if there’s going to be any real hope for saving as much of humanity and its ecological niche as possible," Vice contributor Edward Ongweso Jr., wrote.

"But with a wink and a nudge, you can almost hear the movie say that the sabotage doesn't need to stop when the credits roll," he added.

The New York Times previously defended Malm's book in 2021. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

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As of April 12, "How to Blow Up A Pipeline" held a 95% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 60% audience score.