Filmmaker Ron Howard returns with Eden, his first narrative feature in three years, a historical survival thriller about Floreana’s original settlers.

In 1929, Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and his wife Dore Strauch (Vanessa Kirby) abandon Germany to escape bourgeois ideals they see as corrupting humanity. They settle on the remote isle of Floreana in Ecuador’s Galápagos, where Friedrich devotes himself to a philosophical manifesto while Dore seeks relief from her multiple sclerosis through meditation. Their hard-won isolation is soon disrupted.

They are joined a few years later by Margret (Sydney Sweeney) and Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Brühl), capable settlers eager for a new life. Soon after, Baroness Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas) arrives with lovers Rudolf Lorenz (Felix Kammerer) and Robert Phillipson (Toby Wallace), Ecuadorian servant Manuel Borja (Ignacio Gasparini), and plans for a luxury hotel. Harsh weather, hostile wildlife, and scarce resources test them all—but the greatest danger lies in clashing ambitions, betrayals, and simmering violence.

G. Allan Hancock (Richard Roxburgh), known for developing Hancock Park in Los Angeles and donating the La Brea Tar Pits to the county, returned to the Galápagos in early 1933 after learning of the settlers’ conditions. A film crew shot footage on Floreana—shown in Eden—that plays more like a newsreel than a silent short. Hancock visited again in January 1934, this time producing a four-minute silent film starring Eloise. That later project is absent from the screen; instead, we witness Eloise attempting, unsuccessfully, to seduce Hancock.

Howard usually has no difficulty securing studio distribution. Major titles like Apollo 13 were released by Universal, but Eden followed a different path. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival without a U.S. distributor, eventually landing at Vertical in Aprill. Prime Video acquired rights in several international territories, while a German release took place in April. For a filmmaker of Howard’s stature, the release strategy is unusual, flipping the standard model where American audiences see his films first.

Ritter and Dora had the foresight to leave Germany as the nation slid toward fascism, but life on Floreana was anything but idyllic. Their exploits became international news, inspiring others to follow, but living on a remote island in the 1930s came with brutal challenges. With no modern conveniences, settlers had to rely on farming, hunting, and whatever limited supplies arrived by boat. Unlike the vast wildernesses of North America, the island’s resources were finite and often scarce. Eden captures the struggle of survival in an environment where the dream of paradise quickly gave way to hardship. The result is a tense thriller that makes clear how ambition and desperation collided in dangerous ways.

The film’s small ensemble cast gives the film an almost pandemic-era quality, though production did not begin until after the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike ended. Vanessa Kirby and Sydney Sweeney both joined late due to scheduling changes. Sweeney, in particular, convinces as a European settler despite being American. The stripped-down cast enhances Eden’s intimacy, with each character representing a competing vision of survival. Although the setting is firmly in the 1930s, Howard frames the story with contemporary resonance.

Eden is not the first feature film to explore the original settlers of Floreana in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands. A documentary, The Galapagos Affair, previously premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2013 and opened theatrically in 2014. It seems like it would be worth checking out as a complementary companion to Eden.

Howard has directed many films with thrilling elements, but the film stands out for its relentless intensity. Fifteen years in the making, the film dives deeper into survival thriller territory than most of his earlier work. Hans Zimmer’s score heightens suspense with precision without overwhelming the story. Clocking just over two hours, the film takes its time building tension and immersing viewers in the settlers’ ordeal. While the pacing occasionally drags, the length is justified by the need to balance historical context with thriller momentum. Overall, Eden is gripping and visually striking, even if it stops just short of being fully compelling from start to finish.

DIRECTOR: Ron Howard
SCREENWRITER: Noah Pink
CAST: Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney, Toby Wallace, Felix Kammerer, Richard Roxburgh, Jonathan Tittel

Vertical will release Eden in theaters on August 22, 2025. Grade: 3.5/5

Please subscribe to Solzy on Buttondown and visit Dugout Dirt.