Danny Boyle’s ‘Ink’ Settles at a Strong Rotten Tomatoes Score as Awards Buzz Builds

Opening night at a major film festival can make or break a movie’s awards season trajectory before a single wide release ticket has even been sold. Critics arrive with high expectations, and reactions from that first screening tend to set the tone for months of conversation to follow.

That pressure was especially high for Danny Boyle’s latest project, given his track record as an Oscar-winning filmmaker and the starry cast attached to his newest release. Early buzz out of Venice suggested the film was landing well, but scores can shift considerably as more reviews roll in during the days following a premiere.

Danny Boyle’s ‘Ink,’ starring Jack O’Connell and Guy Pearce, has now settled at 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes based on 25 reviews, following the film’s opening night premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The film follows the two men who relaunched The Sun into the UK’s most infamous tabloid newspaper, chronicling the volatile partnership between editor Larry Lamb and media mogul Rupert Murdoch as they reshaped British journalism.

That score has fluctuated slightly since the film’s premiere, initially opening in the low-90s percentage range based on a smaller batch of early reviews before settling closer to the mid-to-high 80s as more critics weighed in. Even with that modest dip, the film remains solidly positioned as one of the stronger awards season contenders to emerge from this year’s festival.

The film reportedly earned a five-minute standing ovation following its world premiere, an early sign of just how strongly the Venice audience responded to Boyle’s kinetic, high-energy approach to the material. Adapted by James Graham from his own Tony-winning stage play, the film traces Murdoch and Lamb’s partnership back to a 1969 meeting that eventually transformed The Sun into Britain’s most influential and controversial tabloid.

Critics have consistently praised the film’s central performances, with Jack O’Connell’s portrayal of Lamb drawing particular attention as a potential awards season standout. Guy Pearce’s take on a younger version of Murdoch has also earned strong notice, with several reviewers comparing his performance favorably to his recent work in ‘The Brutalist.’

Despite the largely positive reception, some reviewers have pushed back on specific elements of the film’s execution. Criticism has centered on the movie’s closing montage, which draws a direct line from the rise of tabloid journalism to modern figures, with some critics arguing the connection feels heavy-handed by the film’s final minutes.

Other reviews have taken issue with Boyle’s stylistic choices throughout, describing the film as visually maximalist to the point of exhaustion, with heavy use of Dutch angles and rapid editing that some found more disorienting than effective. Still, even critics with reservations about the film’s tone or messaging have largely acknowledged the strength of its central performances and Boyle’s signature directorial energy.

With Venice serving as its launching pad, ‘Ink’ has already generated substantial early Oscar conversation, particularly around potential acting nominations for both O’Connell and Pearce. That kind of festival buzz often proves crucial for shaping a film’s trajectory through the rest of awards season.

Claire Foy rounds out the film’s central cast, adding further prestige to a project that already carries significant pedigree given Boyle’s history with the Academy. As the film moves toward its limited theatrical release later this year before expanding to streaming, its strong critical standing out of Venice positions it as one of the fall’s most talked-about awards contenders.

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