"Some Kind Of Monster" - A Review

Yesterday afternoon I went out and purchased my copy of the new Metallica documentary titled "Some Kind Of Monster", now out on DVD. This was a HUGELY entertaining film. The filmmakers put you right in the center of all the turmoil that threatened to tear apart my very first favorite band. The film follows the band through the loss of a bass player (Jason Newsted) to his side project "Echobrain", rehearsals for "St. Anger" (their latest album), therapy sessions to try and save the band from it's individual members egos, James Hetfields (the leading creative force in the band) entrance into rehab and his subsequent reappearance fourteen months later, how the band is trying to balance family with being "Rock Stars", and the members themselves questioning their own relavence in todays musical climate. I would suggest this movie to anyone. This isn't your typical rock movie where the band is shown as infallible. The film team of Berlinger and Sinofsky (Brother's Keeper and Paradise Lost) show the band members as vulnerable as you and I to growing older and trying to balance work and family. The only difference being you or I aren't members of a band that's sold over 90 million albums. It was great to see Metallica with their guard down and to see what REALLY goes on behind all the PR the record companies throw at you. Most of behind the scenes documentaries I've seen on bands are your cookie cutter, "Here's the band backstage, here's the band doing promotion for the record, here's the band joking around with each other and showing what great musicians they are". This had very little of that. It's the most unvarnished portrait of a number one selling rock band you'll probably ever see. Most of the credit has to go to Metallica for allowing such unprecedented access to a film crew. Say what you want about whether how "Rock & Roll" it is to hire a "performance coach" for therapy, it's immenensely entertaining to watch as a fly on the wall. You don't have to like Metallica to enjoy this movie. It's a great documentary.