Attention rock fans: you have 1 week to get yourself to the cinema to witness Metallica's new concept. A live concert mixed with a short film. I have never seen anything quite like this before and I give massive kudos to the guys (who wrote the film together with director Nimrod Antal) for coming up with what could have been a complete disaster but is a unique and very cool experience.
The film is basically a Metallica concert filmed in Canada using their stunning "in the round" stage show which in my honest opinion would have to be the most ambitious and amazing stage show since, well, pretty much ever. Props, lights, projected images, fire, lasers are all part of this mind-blowing show. After a short introduction where we meet low level roadie Trip (played by actor Dane de Haan) as he delivers some burgers to the crew, we follow him into the arena as Metallica take the stage and kick off their show with "Creeping Death" - woo hoo! Trip's enjoyment of the concert is interrupted as he is sent off on a mission to take some gas to a stranded truck that contains something Very Important. The rest of the movie is then the concert spliced with a short film that becomes increasingly surrealistic as Trip's adventure takes some very strange turns, with events outside seeming to affect events inside the stadium.
If you see this at the movies, you will experience the most beautiful sound you have probably ever heard - I take my hat off to the sound guys on this. My current short-term hearing problem just got a lot worse, but gee I'm happy about it! The camera work has been carefully crafted and designed so that every image is exactly what you want to be seeing at that particular moment, whether it is Lars' feet on the double kick in "One", Kirk's classic guitar solos, Robert's crab walk or James' vocals when he is pulling the best faces. You absolutely will not have better access to the band than in this film. And the visual effects on the fiction side of things are pretty good. The music is well matched to the action outside as well.
The film is not without flaws though. One is frustration at the ending (do not leave until the credits have finished rolling although that still doesn't stop the frustration) which was pretty widespread in the cinema we were in. Another is that the 3D is a bit wobbly in parts, especially at the beginning. It's not in your face but it does provide a super immersive experience as though you are at the concert at times. There are some pretty full-on images and concepts as well, so it's not for young kids if any old metalheads out there have brought up your kids to love Metallica as well.
Any Metallica fans should see this at the cinema. Non Metallica fans who still like rock music and fantasy films would really like it too. Non metal fans are probably not even reading this review!
For those who have seen the movie and want to discuss it (including some of the flaws I've mentioned briefly) , please go to my new page I have set up separately which is where you can write whatever you want about it because only people who have seen the movie should click on it! I've labelled it "Spoilers" so that people don't click on it by mistake: http://melocracy.blogspot.com.au/p/discussions-and-spoilers.html
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