By JARROD POTTER
Metallica Through the Never
Dane DeHaan, Metallica
Available on DVD and Blu-Ray
METALLICA has always stretched the boundaries – maybe on this latest attempt the elastic has snapped.
Let’s break down Through The Never into its component pieces.
There is the concert – an unsurprisingly bold and theatrical piece in the realm of Metallica’s finest.
If it were just a concert DVD/Blu-Ray, I wouldn’t have much to complain about.
Everyone is still on the top of their game, with Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich particularly exceptional as lead guitarist and drummer respectively even as they creep past age 50.
Then we get to the loosely connected, psycho-thriller main plot – starring Dane DeHaan, who is well cast as he was the exceptionally creepy Andrew in the 2012 found-footage superhero film Chronicle.
I can only describe the plot as a strange mix of a video-game cutscene – walking aimlessly through devastation and disaster to the next musical moment – mixed with a classic rock song film clip – jarring violence, nonsensical storyline and nothing of much substance.
It is well shot and interesting in ways, but it’s not captivating and doesn’t make me want to pull this movie off the shelf again.
I am perfectly happy dusting off Cunning Stunts or Metallica S&M as concert DVDs and reliving my fervent love of this band I had as a 16-year-old.
Now some 10 years later, my love of this band hasn’t been extended by this attempt to re-invent the Metallica brand, especially when there were better things on offer.
Metallica recently performed on ANTARCTICA! Why don’t we have a documentary of that instead?
Through The Never tells the tale of an exceptional band performing as well as ever, but feel free to skip through the cinematic cut-scenes. They just get in the way of what you came to see.
– Jarrod Potter
