Movie review
October 23, 2025 · 119 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Lanthimos remakes the 2003 Korean cult hit Save the Green Planet! as a deranged conspiracy thriller. Two bros (Jesse Plemons leading) snatch Emma Stone’s high-powered pharma CEO, convinced she’s an alien wiping out Earth’s bees and humanity via corporate chemicals. Heavy anti-big-pharma rants, class rage, and environmental corporate destruction hit hard. Gender swap on the CEO role amps up the men-torturing-powerful-woman dynamic. Absurd black comedy and a wild twist mock the crazies and the elites, keeping it from full propaganda mode.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Bugonia.
Woke representation / casting
Standard genre casting; no DEI swaps or emphasis beyond the CEO gender flip for story reasons.
Woke political dialogue
Recurring anti-corporate rants and class/power clashes; environmental corporate blame is noticeable.
Identity-driven story themes
Gender swap creates male-on-female dynamics some flag as misogynist; otherwise minimal identity focus.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Central big-pharma and capitalism-bashing; elites portrayed as planet-destroying aliens.
Woke character or canon changes
Production
CEO gender swap from original alters torture/power dynamics noticeably.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Limited feminist pushback on violence; no broader woke debate.
Creator track record context
Aligns with Lanthimos/Tracy pattern of power/gender/institutional satire.
