Oct 18, 2026 9:59pm IST
‘Sacrifice’ Review: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Evans’ Eat-The-Rich Black Comedy Is A Great Idea With Uneven Execution
“Sacrifice,” from French filmmaker Romain Gavras, is a black comedy drama with clear hints of his visual and storytelling genius. A stacked cast delivers the performances: Chris Evans plays a narcissistic film star desperate to be seen as a hero. Anya Taylor-Joy is the leader of a zealous eco-terrorist group that holds a party of rich and famous people hostage for her cause. And yet, the film has ideas that are rather unevenly executed, often incoherent in their message and overpowered by the many things the film tries to do.
In a grotto-like space on a remote Greek island, the one percent of the rich and famous of the world have gathered for a gala to save the environment. Their host is the world’s richest man, Ben Bracken (Vincent Cassel), whose company has found a way to mine a mineral off ocean beds that could save the planet (see the irony?). Bracken’s wife, Gloria, is enamoured by one of the starry invitees of the night, a disgraced actor, Mike Tyler. His poor mental health after a personal tragedy caused Mike to have a public incident that set fire to his reputation, and this gala is his comeback. And Mike’s agent, Oliver, has his hands full ensuring Mike doesn’t try to pull an idiotic hero move before the cameras.
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Unbeknownst to them all, an eco-terrorist group (The Green Isis), made up of people who lived on the island for several years and led by Joan (of Arc), is moving in to hold the guests hostage. She, along with her sister, Louise, and brother, Arthur, are religious fanatics. They believe that picking three people out of the lot — a hero (Mike), a king (Bracken) and a virgin (an event performer dressed as Daughter Nature) — and sacrificing them to an active volcano on the island will fulfil a prophecy that can save the planet from the volcano’s destruction.
For the majority of its 100-minute runtime, “Sacrifice” is a film that just happens to you. It’s absurd, but not in the way the recent Tom Cruise outing “Digger” is, because there’s a clear coherency of thought that becomes apparent with every twist unfolding. In “Sacrifice”, however, you’re unable to look away not because you’re hooked but because you’re hoping to have an enlightenment where the film’s ultimate message will be revealed. But it’s never effectively delivered.
The nods to real people and the planet’s real apathy are apparent, and in laying those foundations of the film’s premise, Gavras and writer Will Arbery are convincing. It’s not difficult to guess who Cassel’s Bracken is based on. Evans’ Mike Tyler is an effective portrait of the hollow stardom we know and can see through. And Evans portrays it brilliantly, often supplying the comic relief organically. Anya Taylor-Joy seems to get a thrill out of portraying these sinister, deliciously twisted characters whose minds can never be read to guess their next move. She’s done that with “The Menu,” “Dune” and now “Sacrifice”. Her Joan is someone you begin believing in, then you’re angry at and eventually feel pity for because it does hold up a mirror to the environmental trauma we’ll be leaving future generations in. However, with Evans and Taylor-Joy doing most of the heavy lifting, the stacked cast, which also includes Ambika Mod and John Malkovich (with a cameo by Charli XCX), does feel a bit underutilised.
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“Sacrifice” does have a certain appeal. Amid its self-indulgent attempt to satirize and the incoherent execution of its many ideas, Gavras’ genius is pretty evident in the way certain shots are staged, particularly during the gala setting in the film’s first half. Like when Mike steps out to use his phone and the message displayed behind him in neon lettering underlines the film’s many nods to who he is and the themes the film wants to explore.
Ultimately, “Sacrifice” is a film you understand superficially as a whole but never truly grasp the minute parts that make up the whole. The film is currently streaming on Lionsgate Play.
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