Bono: Stories of Surrender

2025

Action / Biography / Documentary / Drama / Music

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 75% · 48 reviews
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 1269 1.3K

black and white rock star interview rock singer personal growth life challenges

Director

Andrew Dominik Photo
Andrew Dominik

Top cast

Bono Photo
Bono as Self
Gemma Doherty Photo
Gemma Doherty as Self
Kate Ellis Photo
Kate Ellis as Self
Jacknife Lee Photo
Jacknife Lee as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 1080p.WEB.x265 2160p.WEB.x265
794.62 MB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  ar  bg  cn  cz  dk  nl  et  es  fi  fr  de  gr  il  in  hu  id  it  ja  kr  lv  lt  ms  no  pl  pt  ru  sk  sl  sv  ta  te  th  tr  uk  vi  ro  
23.976 fps
1 hr 26 min
Seeds 11
1.59 GB
1920*800
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  ar  bg  cn  cz  dk  nl  et  es  fi  fr  de  gr  il  in  hu  id  it  ja  kr  lv  lt  ms  no  pl  pt  ru  sk  sl  sv  ta  te  th  tr  uk  vi  ro  
23.976 fps
1 hr 26 min
Seeds 33
1.44 GB
1920*800
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  ar  bg  cn  cz  dk  nl  et  es  fi  fr  de  gr  il  in  hu  id  it  ja  kr  lv  lt  ms  no  pl  pt  ru  sk  sl  sv  ta  te  th  tr  uk  vi  ro  
23.976 fps
1 hr 26 min
Seeds 7
3.85 GB
3840*1600
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  ar  bg  cn  cz  dk  nl  et  es  fi  fr  de  gr  il  in  hu  id  it  ja  kr  lv  lt  ms  no  pl  pt  ru  sk  sl  sv  ta  te  th  tr  uk  vi  ro  
23.976 fps
1 hr 26 min
Seeds 8

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by paul-allaer 7 / 10

Bono will not be held back!

As "Bono: Stories of Surrender" (2025 release; 86 min.) opens, Bono is telling the audience about his heart problem around Christmas 2016, which leads him to bring a highly reworked "Vertigo". Bono then goes back in time, to what things were like growing up in Ireland between himself and his dad. At this point we are less than 10 minutes into the movie.Couple of comments: this is directed by Australian director Andrew Dominik ("The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). First there was the book "Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story", then the book tour, then the New York one man show "Stories of Surrender: An Evening of Words, Music and Some Mischief...". And now we get the film version of the one man shows, taped at the Beacon Theater in New York. Please note that I did not read the memoir, or catch the book tour, or see the one man show, so I watched this documentary as a stand-alone. It is important to understand that this is not a traditional Bono bio-pic. Instead it is Bono reflecting on his life and work. Check out the Pavarotti stories he shares with his dad (Bono playing both himself and his dad). This also is very much a Performance, not some off the cuff remarks. I quite enjoyed it for what it was, nothing more, nothing less. Bono is now in his mid-60's and brimming with energy. He will not be held back! The U2 songs that Bono performs (backed by some strings and drums) are all heavily reworked. But in the end this is quite enjoyable, and with a running time of not even an hour and a half, this flew by in no time. Please note that Brad Pitt is a co-producer."Bono - Stories of Surrender" premiered at the Cannes film festival a few weeks ago, and now is streaming on Apple TV. It is currently rated 71% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which sounds about right to me. If you are a fan of Bono or of U2, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
Reviewed by mos7ro 6 / 10

Beautiful. Pretentious.

I love U2, my favourite band for long time, but I have been developing an (I don't know how else to call it) rejection towards Bono that is growing more and more with time. This a very beautiful pice, only surpassed by its ego driven and pretentious story. Bono is too self-righteous, the authenticity he tries to force while telling this story end up being -ironically- a little overacted. Still a great singer, still great composer and I don't doubt he is a good person with good intentions, but this comes across... he is coming across more and more as the years pass, as fake. Interestingly he does mention at the beginning this can come in that way, self-centered, but that warning doesn't save it from being what it indeed is, a pretentious piece.
Reviewed by wickhamak 8 / 10

Starts off slow, then becomes unstoppable

Patience is required at first as it takes around 20 minutes to adjust to the content and then the story telling soars along with the music. A one man show told from the view of a retrospective on a rock stars life, son and band member, with touching insights on his relationship with his father. The arc of the story goes from school, band creation, growth of fame, riches, social campaigner and family tragedy. For those of us who have lived through the journey along with U2 it draws you in and inspires you at the same time. Strongly recommend you make time to watch uninterrupted. It's a beautiful story.
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