Friday Night Flicks

Well Ken beat me to the punch and posted a review of the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil. While I don’t think Ken totally liked this movie. I think I liked it less than he did.

This documentary is misstated. It is not the the story of Anvil at all. It is about the continuing delusion of the members of a band called Anvil. The movie spends a very brief segment discussing the early successes of Anvil, including influences they had on bands like Anthrax and Metallica. It also mentions their inclusion in some of the biggest rock tours of the 80’s including Monsters of Rock.

Then the movie moves on to the where are they now segment. They move to the snow covered environs of Canada. To the “normal” work a day lives that these band members have.

The story then moves to exploring the threads of hope that this band still holds on to. The story moves from Canada to a  poorly executed and almost comical (if it wasn’t true) tour of Europe. These fools experience one problem after another, and seem to lack even a shred of common sense. Missed trains , small non existent audiences and a missed performance because they got lost in transit.  This movie has been compared to  This is Spinal Tap. I am as huge a fan of Spinal Tap as any long haired metal head, but comparing this film in any way to Spinal Tap is a disservice to fans of Spinal Tap. Spinal Tap is a comedy and there is a fine line between comedy and tragedy. This movie is all about tragedy. The tragedy of failing to recognize that your dream is over, your shot at the brass ring has gone bye and the eventual realization you need to get on with life. Following around a couple of failed losers who continue to be losers is not worth 2 hours of my time.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2009) is a documentary about an 80s Canadian heavy metal band that opened for many big name rock bands but never made it successful on tour or with their own albums. In many ways, this documentary is like a true life This is Spinal Tap story. Although it’s not made as a comedy, there are funny parts throughout, even where not indented to be. Most fans of This is Spinal Tap would enjoy this documentary movie, but The Story of Anvil is less about the band’s music and mostly about the two founding band members dealing with life continued effort to pursue their failed dreams.

The primary reason that Anvil never made it big is that the quality of music overall wasn’t high enough to gain the level of success to sell albums or to increase their tours for live performances. They never were able to create one big hit that put them over that success bar. Many early 80s metal bands that were on the harder and faster rock side were influenced by Anvil, but were able to create better songs to gain success where Anvil didn’t. There are only a few live performances in the movie, and never playing through a complete song. I think the biggest flaw of the movie is that fact, and if they would have played more complete songs live in the movie (like This is Spinal Tap), it would have made it more entertaining and done more to promote the bands music to new potential fans. It’s often like a reality TV show, but done well and never boring.

The movie website with trailer and city showtimes is at http://anvilmovie.com. Their official website is http://anvilmovie.com, which is a poorly designed website that also plays the trailer when you visit the page without hitting play. Their website is much like their music, much more heart but lacking in quality. The founding band members Lips and Robb Reiner grow on  you throughout the movie despite heir flaws and failures, and this documentary may end up doing more to create new fans than their music itself.