Sadly Over-hyped

Powerful

Just perfect...

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is an excellent live concert film of a great band, with a story thrown in. The lighting, sound, performance, editing and effects are all absolutely first class. A lot of thought went into this piece of work.I know Metallica fairly well, having bought their first two albums when they were first released on vinyl in the 1980's. The band has had their ups and downs but this is definitely one of the high points in their career. Metallica likely realized when they conceived the project that live concert footage can be remote and lack intensity, as the viewer doesn't experience the concert energy of seeing the band live. Therefore they added a cinematic story element that has metaphors for the songs. Brilliant idea, even if the story is difficult to understand.The people that give this a film a low rating completely miss the point and misunderstand what this is about. I have no idea how anyone expected a movie in the standard Hollywood sense. It is a piece of work that is different, innovative and effective and I applaud Metallica for the effort. Anyone who enjoys hard rock / heavy metal on any level should see this movie.I attended one of the shows in which some of the filming was done and the live experience was outstanding.

This is not a movie, its a concert and for someone who is not all that familiar with Metallica this is not a good introduction to the band, it is actually painful to follow the movie. During the first 30 minutes I was praying that the movie would actually start following the protagonist. The concert takes up far too much space in the movie. It is honestly such a shame that the directors and writers couldn't let the band take the "backseat" for once by just featuring the music and protagonist for majority of the movie. There is nothing wrong with the music in the movie, the concert couldn't be more boring to watch. This movie was actually a huge let down seeing as I was looking forward to following the story of the young roadie Trip into his surreal adventure. Instead we just get a glimpse into his adventure because the concert takes up majority of the plot. The cinematography is beautiful especially when following Trip, which once again makes it such a shame the movie doesn't follow him.

I would have rated this 10 out of 10 if not for two things...First, when the set falls apart and a couple members of the crew get "hurt" it was OBVIOUSLY (so, so, so obvious) a "plot twist" that made me wonder if the whole concert was real or not. Other than that, I would have accepted that this was a live set played to a sell out crowd and that these guys are still rock gods. Now I picture them getting halfway through Master of Puppets and James screaming, "CUT!!!! My lip sync was off on that take."Two, what the hell was the "story" in the cut scenes supposed to be? Here's my synopsis of that... young, heavy metal Leonardo DiCaprio takes a hallucinogen before going out to gas up a truck. No plot. The only parts of the vignette I liked was the doll and when the roadie poured gas all over himself and lit up before getting beaten to a pulp. I was happy because I hoped that part of the movie would end.

For me Metallica was finished on 09-26-1986 When Cliff played his last gig. However I did like the Garage days $5.98 EP. Having said that the concert is polished even though I did not know several songs at all as the last L.P. I bought was Master of Puppets and the last item I ever bought was Cliff 'em All DVD. By no means is this the worst film I have ever seen. For a concert film it is quite good. And as it is as the other Doyle put it its a nice trippy surreal experience. And for me I needed it to make the vapid and jejune music of most songs since Cliff died and James'heart broke tolerable. I would never pay for it in the cinema I watched it at a friends but IMAX 3D would have been superb. All in all it is worth a look even if like me you have not liked them since Master of Puppets. I may even buy it in 3D if its in the Used bin (which I'm sure it will be) at F.Y.E. when I'm in the USA. The direction on the "film" is nice and the cut away's are well placed and well done. And as far as Dave "republican shill" Mustane being the poster who hated itNaww he is too busy counting money and kissing government @$$ to care about this piece of film.