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Who Killed the Electric Car?
Sony Pictures Classics


8.9

based on 28 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 50 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG for brief mild language

Starring Martin Sheen (narrator)

This documentary chronicles the life and mysterious death of the GM EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business. (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
WRITTEN BY:	Chris Paine
DIRECTED BY:	Chris Paine
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 14, 2006 Theatrical: June 28, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	92 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Also known as "EV Confidential"

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Who Killed the Electric Car? makes you angry, and also sad, to live in a country where innovation could be contrived into an enemy.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The only question his movie doesn't ask is "What do you want your next car to run on?" That's up to you.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

They were fast, they were sexy, they were clean, they were the future -- and they're already gone.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Who Killed the Electric Car? makes you feel that no good idea, let alone good deed, goes unpunished. Only the exuberance of the moviemaking keeps your spirits high.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

A potent hybrid of passion and politics fuel this energetic and highly compelling documentary.

Time Richard Corliss

Chris Paine's documentary makes an unapologetic case for the car and an unofficial indictment of the forces allied against it.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A murder mystery, a call to arms and an effective inducement to rage, Who Killed the Electric Car? is the latest and one of the more successful additions to the growing ranks of issue-oriented documentaries.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Above all, the film is an extended love letter to the EV1, a sleek GM electric marvel that, by Paine's reckoning, marks the single greatest innovation in human technology since the wheel.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Paine doesn't hide his liberal mind-set, but he lets all sides - from GM suits to Ralph Nader - have their say. By the closing credits, there's little doubt who killed the electric car.

Premiere Ethan Alter

By the end of the film, you actually come to mourn the passing of the EV1, a well-intentioned soul that was in the right place at the right time, but was surrounded by the wrong people.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

In a sad twist of technological birth and infanticide, General Motors - with assists from the oil industry, the Bush administration, cowardly California energy officials and apathetic consumers - doomed the future car to the literal scrap heap of history.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A balanced examination of the reasons for the electric car's disappearance, reasons that include corporate collusion and greed, governmental spinelessness and oil company propaganda -- but also consumer indifference and the limitations of the vehicles themselves.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Shaped just like the murder-mystery its title promises, the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? introduces us to the victim, then rounds up the suspects most likely responsible for its demise.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

As efficient and zippy as its subject.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

There is an element of murder mystery and an edge of conspiracy thriller to Chris Paine's documentary about the rise and fall of General Motors' EV1 (Electric Vehicle 1).

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Nihilistic greed was the major factor when GM terminated the car in 2001, though Paine is also careful to note the passivity of the general public.

Variety Robert Koehler

Oil companies aren't the only ones profiting from a spike in prices at the gas pump. It's likely also to boost the prospects of Who Killed the Electric Car? a likable if partisan post-mortem on the now-defunct auto.

LA Weekly Judith Lewis

It's a laudably complicated, if emotional and a little comic-book goofy, story of how a confluence of forces - industry skepticism, trained-seal lobbyists and, last but not least, consumer reluctance - undermined the future of a quiet little bean of mobile metal that the anointed few who could afford to lease it passionately adored.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

So who did kill the electric car? There are many suspects, and as it turns out, most of them are guilty.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

By the end of Who Killed the Electric Car? you'll be worked into a lather one way or another. Paine crams in more theories, ideas and arguments than the movie can easily hold, but that's OK with me.

Los Angeles Times Michael Wilmington

Fascinating documentary.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Who Killed the Electric Car?, a fascinating feature-length documentary by Chris Paine, opens with a mock funeral, then follows the structure of a mock trial in which multiple suspects are found guilty.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

You’ll leave the film wondering why you've never seen a TV ad for an electric car, or why GM is all about selling Hummers these days.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

Paine does offer something of a heroine in Chelsea Sexton; the attractive EV1 sales specialist was laid off in 2001, became an EV1 activist and is now executive director of Plug In America.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Impassioned, unwieldy and padded with celebrity interviews.

Empire Sam Toy

A story that deserves to be heard, but like the EV1, it’s a quiet achievement that should have been much louder.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

A lot of the film is illuminating; a lot of it is pointless.

Village Voice Rob Nelson

The real question is why this purportedly impassioned documentary investigation of a great subject--the culture's conspiratorial dismissal of eco-friendly alternatives to the gas-guzzler -- would assume such massive viewer disinterest that it coats the pill with C-list celebrity NutraSweet, including Martin Sheen voiceovers -- that would sound unforgivably hackneyed even on basic cable.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 50 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jeff M. gave it an8:
Not sure if Jeff S. even watched the movie; the shortcomings of electric and hybrid cars are spelled out repeatedly. Also, the celebrities in question aren't even C-list. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make sweet, sweet love to a tree.

Jeff S. gave it a0:
A pile of left-wing propaganda combined with B-list celebrity interviews and narration by the "real" president, Martin Sheen. Hybrid and electric car technologies are held up to be glorious and infallible while other technologies are mocked and impugned. The filmmakers did a good job of pointing out the shortcomings of other "new" technologies but they never discussed the limitations of hybrids or electric cars. Also, in order to fully appreciate this film you need to have no understanding of basic economics or consumer behavior. If that's you, then you too will "probably want to give this film "20 out of 10 stars" like the sycophantic tree-huggers who got here before me.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
A totally convincing and lively documentary.

Joe H. gave it a10:
I would have given it a 20 out of 10. It was a very well-done film with a great message. Everyone should see this movie.

Perla N. gave it a10:
Did you know that a 0 emissions car was on the market in California 5 years ago and widely lauded as affordable, dependable and fast by its drivers? And then, under pressure from GM, federal government (Mr. Bush, Condi and others who have strong ties to car manufacturers/oil companies), and oil companies. This is an eye-opening movie on the tactics of GM - how they crushed an excellent technology and created a red herring to confuse and distract legislators and consumers.

Stuart S gave it a10:
Go see this film and you will gain a lot of insight into why we have an energy crises and perhaps why America is having so many problems. Go see it and tell everyone you know to do so also. It is too bad this film did not get more exposure.

Craig AS gave it a10:
Yay! Electric cars can (and should) be the future!

Who Killed the Electric Car? Sony Pictures Classics

Who Killed the Electric Car?
Sony Pictures Classics