'Iron Lung' Movie Review

 

Released: January 30th, 2026

Watched: January 30th, 2026

        Maybe the most important thing I can preface this review with is that I am a long time fan of Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach. Mark was one of the first youtubers I had ever watched and I continue to watch the videos he puts out to this day. So, understandably, I'm afflicted with a bit of cult of personality when it comes to his first major motion picture that I've been hearing about for years at this point. However, I am also a fan of weird movies, which this most certainly is. That being said let's move on to the actual review.

        'Iron Lung's greatest accomplishment is probably how faithful it is to the game it draws its name  and story from. The game Iron Lung takes place entirely in a dank dark shoddily made submarine as it descends into an ocean of blood on one of the last remaining celestial bodies in the universe. The only way the player can see out of the sub is through a camera on the front of the sub. The movie 'Iron Lung' does basically the same thing. Mark plays the player character "Simon" and not once does he leave the submarine. Through the movie Mark stays in the blood ocean for all but a brief few minutes, which also acts as the majority of screen time for our other actors who otherwise spend the rest of the runtime as voices.

        It is very evident that this is Mark's first movie, and this is both a good and bad thing. The bad is that the beginning of the movie is very slow. Mark's acting can come off a bit stunted or forced at times, and the script feels weak at points with repetitive dialogue. The good is that literally everything about the movie gets better as it moves along. Mark really fades into the character in the later third, the script tightens up, there are better and more creative cinematography choices, even the sparse score improves in function and enjoyability.

        Overall, 'Iron Lung' is a good movie that is worth the 127 minute runtime. Markiplier is uncompromising in its form, even if that means that the slow paced single-set thriller/horror may not be accessible to most of the general audience. If you are a fan of those types of movies, or Markiplier in general, than this is definitely worth the price of admission in the theatre. If not, I'd still give it a watch if/when it makes it onto a streaming platform.

7.8/10