Tom Hiddleston's 'Tenzing' Debuts With a Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score

Few metrics in contemporary film criticism carry the immediate cultural weight of a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, and Tom Hiddleston's latest project has arrived at exactly that summit. Tenzing, an Apple TV+ biographical drama centered on the legendary 1953 Mount Everest expedition, premiered at the 53rd Telluride Film Festival and 2026 TIFF to virtually unanimous critical enthusiasm, establishing itself as one of the most warmly received mountaineering films in recent memory.

A Career Peak for Hiddleston — On and Off the Mountain

Based on 13 reviews compiled ahead of its theatrical release, Tenzing currently holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the highest-rated film of Hiddleston's career to date, according to ScreenRant. That figure edges out Archipelago (96%) and the beloved Thor: Ragnarok (93%), though it remains subject to revision as more critics weigh in before the film's October opening. Hiddleston, who has steadily built a reputation for thoughtful, chameleonic work across stage and screen — as recently evidenced by his documentary narration in Tom Hiddleston Guides Viewers Through Pompeii's Final Hours in New Nat Geo Series — here steps into a supporting capacity, portraying Sir Edmund Hillary alongside a cast assembled to honor a story long underrepresented in Western cinema.

Centering Tenzing Norgay's Story

The film's most notable critical distinction is its deliberate reframing of a narrative that Western storytelling has historically filtered through a Eurocentric lens. Newcomer Genden Phuntsok leads as Tenzing Norgay, the Nepalese sherpa whose physical and spiritual journey to the Everest summit forms the dramatic core of the picture. Reviewers praised Phuntsok's restrained yet emotionally resonant performance, as well as the film's attention to the brotherhood forged between climbers under extreme duress. Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe contribute compelling supporting work, with the duo's dynamic lending the expedition sequences an additional layer of texture.

On a technical level, the cinematography and mountain photography drew particular admiration, with critics noting the film's capacity to translate the visceral terror and sublime beauty of high-altitude climbing into something genuinely cinematic. In that respect, Tenzing joins a rarefied tradition of mountain films — from Leni Riefenstahl's early Bergfilm work to the more recent verite approach of documentary — in grappling seriously with what the vertical world demands of human bodies and spirits.

A Director Finding Her Narrative Voice

Jennifer Peedom, who helmed the critically acclaimed documentary Sherpa (98% on Rotten Tomatoes) as well as the 2017 essayistic film Mountain, makes her narrative feature debut with Tenzing. The transition from documentary to drama is rarely seamless, and some reviewers flagged familiar biopic conventions and uneven pacing as limiting factors. ScreenRant's George Bates awarded the film 6 out of 10 stars, observing that it falls short of fully capturing the emotional gravity of its source material. Still, Peedom's deep familiarity with the subject — and her reunion with Dafoe, who narrated Mountain — gives the production an authenticity that few first-time narrative directors could replicate.

The screenplay comes from Luke Davies, an Academy Award-nominated writer whose script for Lion demonstrated a facility with true-story material of enormous emotional scope. The remaining cast includes Caitríona Balfe and Thinley Lhamo, while the production carries a meaningful personal dimension: Norbu Tenzing, eldest son of Tenzing Norgay himself, served as an executive producer alongside Simon Gillis and David Michôd.

Release Timeline and What Comes Next for Hiddleston

Tenzing is scheduled for a limited theatrical run beginning October 9, 2026, before arriving on Apple TV+ one week later on October 16. For Hiddleston, the project represents a significant detour before his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Tom Hiddleston Says Loki's Finale Is the Foundation for Avengers: Doomsday — suggesting an actor deliberately choosing projects that challenge and recontextualize his range. Whether the perfect score holds as the broader critical conversation develops remains to be seen, but the early consensus is clear: Tenzing is a film worth watching closely.

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