Bono: Stories of Surrender
Apple TV+ | Release Date (Streaming): May 30, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Next Best PictureMatthew TurnerNov 11, 2025
This is an entertaining and emotionally engaging mix of music and song that will play well to both die-hard fans and newcomers alike, with Bono proving charming company throughout the film’s 87 minute running time. Read full review
80
Screen DailyNikki BaughanMay 18, 2025
The result is an intense baring of the soul that is part performance, part confessional and all entertainment. Read full review
80
NMEDamian JonesMay 18, 2025
While it’s not quite the same as actually being there, Bono: Stories Of Surrender shines a new, personal light on his dramatic performance. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleChris VognarJun 3, 2025
“Stories of Surrender” makes no pretense of telling the full Bono story. But it picks its spots with artful precision and with keen cinematic instincts. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comRobert DanielsMay 17, 2025
While the autobiographical elements are incredibly light, there’s enough humility here to make the viewer surrender to the film’s melodic charms. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubBrent SimonMay 17, 2025
While chiefly serving as an engaging conversation piece for those already familiar with the man and his band, director Andrew Dominik’s film is also an artistic, effectively streamlined celebration of reflection. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 17, 2025
While the show is honest and engaging, full of confessions and music and inside-the-band anecdotes and other savory tidbits, it all goes down almost a bit too smoothly, without quite hitting you with the force of revelation, since Bono has always had the loquacious talk-show-friendly slightly oversharing quality of an open book. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMay 17, 2025
The musical interludes — which include gorgeous versions of such songs as “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “Vertigo,” “Desire” and “Beautiful Day,” among others — provide a welcome contrast to the film’s inevitable talkiness. Ditto the kinetic cinematography and editing, which give the proceedings an arresting cinematic quality. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeMay 19, 2025
Ultimately, for good or ill, one has to accept that Bono’s compunction to spill his emotional innards is, for fans, more of a feature than a bug. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 17, 2025
It’s a confident, often engaging mix of music and no-frills theatrical performance, with Bono often coming across like some forgotten character that Samuel Beckett created but then suppressed due to undue levels of rock’n’roll pizzazz. Read full review
60
Time OutDave CalhounMay 17, 2025
This good-natured hagiography isn’t anywhere near free of pomposity, but even Bono seems to know when it’s best just to keep quiet and move on. Read full review
50
The PlaylistChase HutchinsonMay 17, 2025
Despite its title, it’s unable or unwilling to surrender itself to being more than just another celebrity documentary. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithMay 30, 2025
If Bono is melodramatic, Mr. Dominik is an enabler. Thom Zimny’s matter-of-fact direction of another paternally damaged rock star’s concert confessional, “Springsteen on Broadway,” let its star’s charisma shine through. “Stories of Surrender” is more like an epic of self-parody. Read full review
40
EmpireJohn NugentMay 17, 2025
Strictly-for-fans-only. Bono is a charismatic chronicler of his own life, but the self-conscious storytelling concept is a harder thing to stomach for non-enthusiasts. Read full review
20
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 18, 2025
Bono may be his own worst enemy in the one-man show Stories of Surrender, but only just. His second worst is Blonde director Andrew Dominik, who has turned it into a more excruciating film than you might even have surmised. Read full review
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