How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Name: How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime, Western
Released: April 7, 2023
Duration: 103 min
Rating: 76
Cast: Ariela Barer, Forrest Goodluck, Irene Bedard, Jake Weary, Jasper Keen

2023

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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6.4

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6.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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How To Blow Up A Pipeline

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Movie Details & Credits

Neon | Release Date: April 7, 2023 | Not Rated

Starring: Ariela Barer, Forrest Goodluck, Irene Bedard, Jake Weary, Jasper Keen, Jayme Lawson, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage, Marcus Scribner, Olive Jane Lorraine, Sasha Lane

Summary: A crew of young environmental activists execute a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline.

Director: Daniel Goldhaber

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Crime, Western

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 103 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Josh Slater-Williams

Apr 20, 2023

The electric, forthright How to Blow Up a Pipeline excels as both truly riveting entertainment and an energizing call to action, in part through the cleverness of its genre conceit: what could be a better fit for a story about collective action and fighting the system than a heist movie? Read full review

Barry Hertz

Apr 10, 2023

Incendiary and furious, confident and courageous, the new thriller How to Blow Up a Pipeline boasts not only the best title of the year so far but also the best score, cast and itchy, charged, electric directorial vision – all of it only ever-so-slightly goosed by a political softening that perhaps says more about contemporary American filmmaking than the storytellers working within it. Read full review

Jacob Oller

Oct 24, 2022

What makes How to Blow Up a Pipeline great, is that it so deftly wins us to its cause anyway. It’s absolutely electric filmmaking. Read full review

David Hughes

Feb 22, 2023

In favouring the dramatic over the didactic, Goldhaber arguably buries the themes of the source text a little too deeply, resulting in a film that isn’t quite the call to action it might have been. Still, its message resonates – and its bomb-setting scenes are as nail-biting as cinema’s best bomb disposals. Read full review

Roxana Hadadi

Apr 7, 2023

How to Blow Up a Pipeline wants to pick a fight, and it does so with an appealing lack of artifice, its heart on its sleeve and its agenda in its punching fists. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Apr 4, 2023

Making it all work is the cast, all experienced but mostly just-unknown enough to give How to Blow Up a Pipeline a genuine indie anarchist feel. Read full review

IndieWire Jude Dry

Apr 8, 2023

As the action progresses, the film seems more concerned with the hitting beats of the story than sending its characters on an emotional journey. Read full review

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User Reviews

moviemitch96

Apr 14, 2023

A group of misfit environmentaists band together for a common cause: to blow up a pipeline and send a message to all those involved. Their motives and backgrounds vary, but their cause to protect and avenge their environment is what they have in common. Genuinely suspenseful and tenselyA group of misfit environmentaists band together for a common cause: to blow up a pipeline and send a message to all those involved. Their motives and backgrounds vary, but their cause to protect and avenge their environment is what they have in common. Genuinely suspenseful and tensely performed by all involved, The film plays out surprisingly like a heist thriller, where the steaks feel high and the tension more than I suspected would be involved. It also was surprisingly not too politically heavy-handed, as this aspect seemed to take a backseat to the storytelling and thrills of it all As for the cast, everyone's so solid and on point here that it's impossible to single any one of these young actors out, although it was great seeing Sasha Lane and Forrest Goodluck in particular Once again, as they really haven't seemed to have done much since their breakout roles in 'American Honey' and 'The Revenant' respectively. This also happens to be their second collaboration together after 'The Miseducation of Cameron Post.' Overall, this is a solid film that really pleasantly surprised me and more ways than one and stands out as one of the most impactful films of the year for me so far!… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

JLuis_001

May 5, 2023

75/100

One of the dumbest reviews I read about this movie was from IndieWire. I know, such pretentious people. In it the reviewer said that the movie couldn't establish any of the characters, which I find laughable considering that the very plot automatically lets you understand that they75/100

One of the dumbest reviews I read about this movie was from IndieWire. I know, such pretentious people.

In it the reviewer said that the movie couldn't establish any of the characters, which I find laughable considering that the very plot automatically lets you understand that they are not what matters, it's their actions and the message they want to establish.

Come on, even the damn title tells you that. I don't know if that reviewer was expecting a compilation of deeper backstories to give another meaning to their actions, but his train of thought went a different way.
Personally, I think he was confused about the movie, and the same goes for anyone expecting a melodramatic exploration of what is essentially a pulsating, exciting and tense activist thriller.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a very good movie, but you have to understand up front that the message and the reasons they fight for is what this film is all about, not typecasting its characters into a mold of traumas.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SayreTX

Aug 12, 2023

This is a retro thriller about diverse people who collaborate to blow up a pipeline due to personal wrongs that were visited upon them by Big Oil. It's like a low budget Fight Club, with less emphasis on slick entertainment and more focus on a realistic portrayal of the high risk plan.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TVJerry

Apr 25, 2023

The intro of the atomic bomb ushered horror films built around the resultant radiation (Godzilla!). After working thru serial killers and haunted spectres, we're headed to a new subject: climate change. A group of 8 young people goes thru the titular procedure: We see them prepping all ofThe intro of the atomic bomb ushered horror films built around the resultant radiation (Godzilla!). After working thru serial killers and haunted spectres, we're headed to a new subject: climate change. A group of 8 young people goes thru the titular procedure: We see them prepping all of the elements and carrying out the plan. There are moments of backstory, when we're allowed to see the motivations behind their commitment. Even so, there's virtually no real emotional connection, resulting in more of an procedural video that's sometimes mildly gripping and other times fascinating. … Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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