| Explorer | |
| Director: | Matthew Dyas |
| Music: | Rebekka Karijord |
| Cinematography: | Chris Openshaw |
| Distributor: | Universal Pictures Content Group |
| Runtime: | 113 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
Explorer is a 2022 biographical documentary film about the life and exploits of British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, directed by Matthew Dyas. It was critically acclaimed as a "compelling portrait" of Fiennes.
The film includes both contemporary and archive footage and covers many of aspects of Fiennes' life including self-amputation of his fingers due to frostbite, involvement in the Dhofar Rebellion, leading the Transglobe expedition, being booted out of the SAS, running 7 marathons on 7 days on 7 continents, auditioning for James Bond, and reflections on his personal and family life.[1]
Explorer was released to theatres on July 14, 2022. It was released to video on August 30, 2022.[3]
The film holds a metacritic score of 81 denoting reviews as "universal acclaim"[4] which includes a 3 star review by Cath Clarke for the Guardian[5] and a 5 star review by Robbie Collin for the Telegraph.[6] Wendy Ide of the Observer gave the film a rating of 4 stars out of 5, which was higher than the rating awarded by the sister paper the Guardian. She called the film a "compelling portrait" of the subject.
Empire contributor Ian Freer gave a 4 star rating, writing "If it adds little in the way of dissenting voices or a different viewpoint, Explorer tells the tale of a remarkable, stranger-than-fiction life and emerges as an affecting, entertaining portrait of a true eccentric".[7] Nell Minow for RogerEbert.com gave the film a 3.5 star rating writing that the "organization of the film is distracting" however the subject is "never less than enthralling".[8]