The International Writers Magazine: Movie Review
Metallica:
Some Kind Of Monster (DVD review)
Directed by Joe Berlinger/ Bruce Sinofsky
Dan Schneider
The
documentary film Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster is an
example of a not so good piece of art about a subject that is
not so good.
Dont
get me wrong, Im a Metallica fan, and not one of those morons
who refuse to grow up and believe their early thrash songs that
sound all alike are somehow artistically superior to their later
songs with melody and lyrics with a little more depth.
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Its just
that while the filmmakers and band members hoped to do a film of great
depth, which the commentary tracks harp on, the truth is that
the members of the band are unwittingly close to the Spinal Tap territory
inherent in any such venture. Basically, after bassist Jason Newsted
left the band in 2001, over artistic differences, lead singer James
Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich warred for control over the bands
future, while lead guitarist Kirk Hammett pretty much sat on the sidelines.
Eventually, the band hired a $40,000 a month counselor named Phil Towle,
not even a real shrink, to tell them things that any twelve year old
could figure out.
Hetfield is an addictive sort, whose terminal machismo landed
him in rehab, after doing a Ted Nugent impression, by going to kill
bears in Siberia, the bleating over missing his sons first birthday,
Ulrich is an artistic poseur, truly befuddled at the supposed meaning
of gold trim in terrible Basquiat paintings, which he later sells off
for several million dollars, and asking such probing queries as Where
does art begin? Where does it end?
Hammett simply doesnt know how to cope with either, in between
vacuously staring in camera and declaring himself egoless. Add in do-nothing
producer Bob Rock, for what would eventually become their St. Anger
CD, and the makings for a great comic film are there, in spades. Unfortunately,
the filmmakers Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger (of the Paradise
Lost documentaries) missed the boat, and took this bleating of fortysomething,
over-the-hill rock stars seriously, whereas Newsted- apparently the
only well balanced member of the band- calls it for what it rightly
is: bullshit. The only other well-balanced person seems to be the bassist
hired to replace Newsted, Rob Trujillo, who comes off as sincere, and
a bit overwhelmed by the whole nonsense of a therapist.
Towle, meanwhile, comes off as a total idiot, leaching onto the band
for his sinecure, handing out song lyrics to Hetfield, and even considering
himself so vital to the band that he plans a cross-country move for
his family, utterly showing no real priorities in his own life.
There are numerous ridiculous scenes that do nothing to dispel the idea
that rock stars are deluded individuals so used to having their asses
kissed that they cannot act in the least bit mature. They set about
to do a new album in the Presidio in a participatory way, unlike the
former days when Hetfield and Ulrich ran the show. Unfortunately for
this idea Hammett is devoid of ideas- his lone foray into something
mimicking depth coming in a mealy-mouthed defense of guitar solos, a
point upon which he loses anyway. Then, Hetfield goes off for nearly
a years worth of rehab, while Ulrich battles Napster and becomes
the most hated man in rock and roll. Hammett chills out on his ranch,
and then we meet Ulrichs eccentric Danish dad Torben- a clueless
man with a long beard and a cowboy hat, whose knowledge of rock music,
while limited, seems to impress his son and Towle - Im serious.
The scene is ridiculously hilarious because Towle is so impressed that
this man, who could very well be someone you stepped over on a warm
street grate, is Larss dad. It culminates with the dad ripping
into the new music that record executives think is great. Dad says to
delete it.
Later comes a scene with former Metallica lead guitarist Dave Mustaine,
who was fired in 1983, and formed rival thrash band Megadeth. While
Hetfields in rehab Dave and Lars have a warm moment with a therapist,
just two days after 9/11. Yet, there is something very contrived about
this moment, and in the commentaries and bonus features we find out
that Mustaine later objected to the editing of his interview as showing
him in a negative light, as if he defined his life by his being kicked
out of the band. Nothing more comes of the scene, and any resolution
is left hanging. As are Hammett and Ulrich when Hetfield returns from
rehab with a dicta that says he can only work four hours a day, yet
tries to control what Ulrich and Rock do with material after hes
gone. Hetfield even wants to can the film, but relents after the filmmakers
show him footage. Yet, here is where the documentary is no more. There
has been a break into the documentary aspect by the filmmakers, and
some of the later scenes, where Ulrich screams FUCK in the face of Hetfield,
have a forced quality, as though the band members are now consciously
playing for the camera. They then hire Trujillo as Newsteds replacement,
and eventually finish the album and go on tour.
Through it all there seems to have been a war between Rock and Towle
that is shortshrifted. Towle comes off as being as unstable as Hetfield
and Ulrich, for once Hetfield leaves rehab his role is done, yet he
hangs on till the band axes him, in another scene that feels too pat,
and staged. Thus, the film ultimately fails, despite its great potential.
Many reviewers call it honest, but a closer look at it shows only manipulative,
immature men (both in the band and not), who probably are even far more
fucked up than the film admits. Evidence of this comes from Ulrichs
ridiculously overboard crowing that the band proved that aggressive
music can be made using only positive energy. Exactly, where was he
during the recording of the album? That someone can still be so clueless,
even as the opposite is documented on camera is where the Spinal Tap
moments shine. Ive not listened to St. Anger, but know that while
it did debut at #1, as the film admits in the end, it was a critical
bomb, a fact the film avoids.
The bands commentary track adds nothing, and is punctuated with
pregnant silences, and the filmmakers also are utterly empty of any
depth, for nothing theyve done filmically stands out, and they
admit as much in their commentaries- that they got lucky that their
wishes for conflict were answered. This is because the band seems to
be running on fumes, and are no more healed at the end than
they were at the start. In fact, who could really be healed
by a charlatan like Towle? Rock music, especially heavy metal, is a
young mans game, and without that fire you just have unintended
parody. In ten or twenty years, when all the band members are bald and
fat, will they then be whining of something else? Probably, but hopefully
they will have documentarians clued in enough to see the humor in such
things as Hetfields clichéd AA regimen - which they, on
their commentary describe as being the most amazing filmic transformation
ever recorded - huh? Does their list of watched films extend beyond
Hanna-Barbera? In short, the film is competently made, but ultimately
empty and silly, with none of the resonant depth of true rockumentaries
such as Gimme Shelter or Woodstock, due to its Oprah Winfrey level simplemindedness--
© Dan Schneider, July 2005
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