Masterful Cinema

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

...but what about thrash, death, black, power and doom metal? With the exception of clips of Overkill, Anthrax, Napalm Death, Metallica and interviews with those bands and Alex Skolnick and Dave Mustaine, there was pretty much no mention of any band in any of those genres (seriously, Slayer was mentioned -once- in a two hour documentary about metal), instead it focused on early hard rock/heavy metal, glam and nu metal.I'm actually being pretty generous with the score here, you have heard pretty much all of this before in other (and better) documentaries. Some of the interviews were pretty entertaining (Dio and Phil Taylor in particular), but this is honestly not worth wasting two hours of your life on.If you haven't seen a metal documentary yet, go with A Headbangers Journey, it's not perfect, but a hell of a lot better than this."Pantera kept true metal alive" - I think we're done here.

Recently Metal fans are getting a hell of a lot of documentaries about their favorite music genre. After the entertaining (but ultimately not very enlightening) "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" and VH1's "Heavy" series comes "Heavy Metal: Louder Than Life". Maybe it's because we have seen all this presented in a similar way not too long ago, maybe it's because the documentary just doesn't cover any new ground, but "Heavy Metal" is the worst of these three Metal-movies.What's most irritating is that the documentary jumps through the decades without any kind of chronological order. There is no logical order of the topics discussed, either and the music videos shown don't really fit the narration most of the time."Heavy Metal: LTL" has some interview partners that the other two documentaries missed, but then there are some important figures missing here, too, which means that none of the three movies are "complete". "Metal: AHJ" suffered from the absence of any Metallica or Judas Priest members. "Heavy Metal: LTL" does include interview snippets with James Hetfield, Rob Halford, K.K. Downing and Glen Tipton but there are no Iron Maiden members at all.Unlike the other two documentaries "Heavy Metal: LTL" isn't a good survey of all the different Metal genres. It virtually ignores Death Metal, for instance. Instead it ponders for the millionth time which band really was the first metal band.For fans there's nothing to learn here, but "Heavy Metal: Louder Than Life" is still kinda entertaining to watch, if neither "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" or VH1's "Heavy" are available.

Well, it's been a great few years for us metal heads. First, we have the excellent theatrical documentary "Metal:A Headbanger's Journey", and now, we have "Heavy Metal: Louder Than Life". Both are great documentaries on the longest lasting form of popular music, but I will have to say that I enjoyed this documentary more than I did "Metal".Whereas "Metal" was more of a fan's view of heavy metal music, "Heavy Metal" focuses much more on the artists and musicians that spawned it. On this documentary, we have interviews with Geezer Butler, KK Downing, Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, Dave Mustaine, Scott Ian, Glenn Tipton, and of course Dee Snider. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see Alex Skolnick (Testament) and Bobby Blitz Ellsworth (Overkill). Both from two of metal's most under-rated bands! Hell, they even threw in a few interviews with James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett! In addition to these great new interviews, we see many old performances and video clips all the way from Led Zeppelin, Motorhead, to Ratt, Motley Crue, to Korn and Slipknot. I think another major plus this film has over "Metal", is the fact that it only really touches on death and black metal with a few clips of Napalm Death and Venom. Other than Venom and the band Death, this form of music never really spoke to me, and I was happy that it did not spend too much time on this. Likewise, it also just hinted on the "nu-metal". Again, this is a plus to me, as I've never been a fan of Slipknot or Korn. Metal should never have mixed itself with hip hop! Both are completely different styles of music, and sorry, they really do not compliment themselves! As with "Metal", this film touches all the same core subjects. The arguments of the first true metal band, sex, and of course, Satanism.One major complaint about this film, and that is the lack of the European metal scene. What about bands like Stratovarious? Hammerfall? Edguy? Rhapsody? Nightwish? Helloween? Also...what about American classic bands like Savatage? Manowar? Kamelot? Or how about Anvil, Sword, Razor or Annihilator from Canada? The lack of the power metal genre is a big disappointment, because no matter what anyone will tell you, this is where the next big band will come from, and is a very important part of metal's history. Metal is much bigger in Europe, and that is where the next band will come from.In closing, "Heavy Metal: Louder Than Life" is a must for any fan that is truly passionate about the music. Definitely a must buy. The second DVD even has a complete uncut interview with Dee Snider. Even though I was never a huge fan of Twisted Sister, hardly anyone can argue with his passion and love for metal. A very entertaining interview as usual!9/10....only minus being the lack of the power metal genre, and too much Korn for my taste!

The only extreme bands mentioned in the film are Napalm Death and Arch Enemy.What about Prog Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal,...There are very few people and they have to talk a lot from the first to the last second. Why don't they interview more people? I also think bands like Twisted Sister are overrated and the man appear on every Metal documentary I've watched. OK you don't need to list all kinds of Metal but such a short duration of Extreme Metal will do no good to the new generation of Metal fans.You'd better watch Metal - A Headbanger's Journey, that film is what I call the best Heavy Metal documentary ever.