Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

To begin, I must admit that I am not a fan of the band Metallica or their music. Having made that declaration, I am happy to say I somewhat liked this film because it confirms what I likely expected of this band and their style of music. The film very effectively shows us that front man James Hetfield has severe control issues and drummer Lars Ulrich is quite simply an annoying little weasel. We also learn that one band member was fired because he wanted to explore new musical directions in a separate project not involving the other band members. On top of all this, we clearly see that the band doesn’t have anything new or important to say to their audience and this is after five years of not recording any new material. Rather than just saying this project has come full circle and its time to pack it in, the band instead hires a performance coach at forty thousand dollars per month to try to help them overcome their contempt for each other and find some creative inspiration. What I conclude from this film is that success is addictive and not to be walked away from especially when its quite possible you won’t achieve similar success anywhere else. I don’t know how any fan of this band could really enjoy this movie unless they view it with the same uncritical eye or should I say uncritical ear, that they likely apply to the bands music.