98% on Rotten Tomatoes for mountaineering drama Tenzing on Apple TV+
Apple TV’s Tenzing is riding a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, the kind that makes you double-check the number.
Early reviews have come in strong for Tenzing, the Apple TV+ mountaineering drama centered on the Sherpa behind a history-making climb. As of now, the film sits at a rare near-unanimous mark on Rotten Tomatoes and is pulling in high marks from viewers, too — a splashy showing for a character-driven biopic anchored by a newcomer.
Tenzing holds a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score from 61 critic reviews, with a 92% audience rating from 250+ verified users.
For Tom Hiddleston, who plays climber Edmund Hillary, that 98% is a career-best on the site — topping the 96% for Archipelago and the 93% scores for both Midnight in Paris and Thor: Ragnarok. On the audience side, the film’s 92% also edges past the mark fans gave Avengers: Infinity War among Hiddleston titles on the platform.
Who’s in it
- Genden Phuntsok — Tenzing Norgay
- Tom Hiddleston — Edmund Hillary
- Willem Dafoe — Colonel John Hunt (expedition chief)
- Caitríona Balfe — Jill Henderson
- Thinley Lhamo — Dawa (Tenzing’s wife)
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Despite the marquee names, much of the praise is landing on Phuntsok. Critics have highlighted his understated, emotionally precise turn; reviewers at RogerEbert.com singled out how his face carries both the quiet fulfillment and the lingering melancholy that follow an “impossible” achievement. Paired with Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe, the film keeps the focus on the human cost and recognition that so often eluded the man at its center.
Release path
- Sept. 4 — World premiere at the Telluride Film Festival
- Subsequently opened the Zurich Film Festival
- Oct. 9 — Limited theatrical release in select theaters in the U.S. and Australia
- Oct. 12 — Won the top audience prize at the Mill Valley Film Festival
- Oct. 16 — Streaming debut on Apple TV+ (worldwide)
The film is now available to stream on Apple TV+.
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