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Collapse

Collapse (2009)

tomatometer

70

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

audience

84

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 3,031

My Rating

Movie Info

Michael Ruppert is an independent journalist who has made a minor career out of telling people news that most folks do not want to know. Ruppert, a former police officer, predicted the Wall Street debacle of 2008 several years before the fact, at a time when most analysts were still imagining infinite growth for the stock market and major investment banks. Since then, his vision of the world's future has grown only darker. As Ruppert sees it, civilization and the global economy has yet to wean

Unrated, 1 hr. 22 min.

Documentary, Special Interest

Jun 15, 2010

Vitagraph Films

All Critics (36) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (32) | Rotten (7) | DVD (7)

Ruppert unexpectedly breaks down, weeping openly for the lost future of humanity, and at that moment I was startled at how bad I felt for him -- and how nervous I was, suddenly, that this contemporary Cassandra might just be right.

December 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's only when he starts to weep for the future of a population that won't heed his warnings that Ruppert shows his humanity. It's made him abandon his cause and quit writing.

December 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comments (6)
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There is controversy over Ruppert, and he has many critics. But one simple fact at the center of his argument is obviously true, and it terrifies me.

December 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Collapse will leave you shaken about the future of the planet, and saddened about the shattered life of the messenger.

December 4, 2009 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Collapse" is a grueling peek at a doomsday prophet's rigorous mind but in a sly way also a compassionate look at the strain Ruppert endures from knowing he has only ever been right.

November 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It would have been helpful had Smith put his words into some sort of context, allowing others to assess his theories. Instead there's simply Ruppert, talking, raging and warning, as if his very life depended on it.

November 6, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Daily News | Comments (4)
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If he's even half right, the world our children and grandchildren will inherit doesn't bear thinking about.

October 6, 2010 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
This is London

Unearths the flawed humanity behind the apocalyptic theorising.

September 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

Chris Smith's documentary centres on a long and disquieting interview with Michael Ruppert, a radical American activist on a mission to expose the "peak oil" cover-up...

September 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

Smith treats Ruppert both as exhibit and patient, and he comes across as an angry yet compassionate man, secure in his convictions but lost in his emotions.

September 30, 2010 Comment
Little White Lies

There are clear parallels with former US vice-president Al Gore's arguments in An Inconvenient Truth, only Smith's film makes less use of showbiz-style graphics.

September 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Radio Times | Comment
Radio Times

Intelligently probed by director Chris Smith and always compelling to watch, the chain-smoking Ruppert's vision of the future should be on everyone's viewing list.

September 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

Rich on rhetoric, if sometimes a little loopy in the ideas beneath.

September 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Financial Times | Comment
Financial Times

Perhaps he's worth listening to? Well, up to a point.

September 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Sky Movies | Comment
Sky Movies

Prophet and disciple conspire to present a chilling message of collapse

September 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Habit | Comment
Movie Habit

Take Michael Ruppert with several thousand grains of salt, but take him seriously, at least for 80 minutes. Chris Smith does, and thats what makes Collapse so riveting.

June 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

Is Ruppert a conspiracy theorist?... [H]e's chillingly plausible as he synthesizes, in 82 clipped minutes, a portrait of industrialized civilization on the brink of collapse.

June 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | Comment
Flick Filosopher

Chris Smith and his documentary team smartly focus their attention on the world fuel crisis, leaving many other issues discussed by [Michael] Ruppert to the deleted scenes portion of the DVD.

June 8, 2010 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | Comment
Reeling Reviews

Despite the way he unsettlingly devours cigarettes, Ruppert can explain credit default swaps and why they floundered better than any pundit on CNBC or Fox Business.

June 5, 2010 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

The only problem with "Collapse" is Smith's failure to prod Ruppert a little harder, especially on the subject of his 9/11 Truther status.

May 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | Comments (2)
Reeling Reviews

Ruppert's deep sighs, dramatic pauses and a slight sneer on his lips say that he doesn't care what you think because he knows he's right, but he forgives your ignorance.

March 12, 2010 Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Comment
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

You might disagree with every point made during Collapse but it's unnerving all the same.

January 27, 2010 Full Review Source: What Would Toto Watch? | Comment
What Would Toto Watch?
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Collapse

Compelling compilation of all your fears for humankind's future. Generally accurate if a little dismissive of humans' ability to solve the problems we face given our track record. Drives home our need for energy sources which actually provide energy without actually contributing further to the energy demand. A sobering

February 13, 2011
gor41
Gordon A

Super Reviewer

The best doco to chain smoke too EVER!

October 17, 2010
kenstachnik

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Collapse (2009) (CA)
  • Collapse (2009) (FR)
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