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Metallica’s 3D Film Shocks, Slithers and Slams the Screen by Jay Randy Gordon (The MARINsider)
Apocalyptic imagery from Metallica's new film 'Through the Never'. photo: courtesy N. Antal
ARE YOU UP FOR ANGER, ART, ANARCHY
and some rock god action? If so, get ready to don your black and strap on the mental seat belts, see trailer. The band which gave you "St. Anger" (2003) are peaking and do not apologize.
In "Through the Never", a 94-minute hybrid narrative-action-concert feature, Metallica tries to rock your world and win you over while stretching your mind, almost to the breaking point. Indeed, after years in the business, they're experts on what can detonate consciousness.
And Metallica has bet big on this film— staking their reputations on a narrative I found very troubling. Although the movie has very high production values, exploding on screen, ringing in your ears, assaulting the senses and drawing an "R" rating for some violent content and language, in my view it should be rated "Really?"
Perhaps this is a passion project to prop up their pedestal for a newer generation while refueling an aging fanbase and delving deeper into their traditional iconography as anti-hero.
Make no mistake, this is not take two of the band's excellent and rather touchy-feely doc, "Some Kind of Monster" (2004), which followed them through the recording of "St. Anger" and included inner-band arguments as well as conference calls to their group shrink. That was cinema-verite. Directed by Nimród Antal, "Through the Never" is more a transmedia hybrid given it is both a concert film and post-apocalyptic story.
An Hungarian-American who studied cinema in Hungary, Nimród Antal returned to LA to start shooting big features notably the action-packed "Predators" (2010) starring Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne.
Metallica's founder, Lars Ulrich, after a literally 'bloody' gig in his youth—the band has been making its form of magic since 1981. photo: courtesy Metallica
In "Through the Never" the lead character, Trip, ably played by Dane DeHaan (largely unknown, despite some HBO and film action), remains iconically mute. As a young roadie, the symbolism swirls around the band's simple if urgent middle-of-a-show assignment: Locate and gas up a fellow roadies' truck and bring back a mysterious bag.
As if in effigy, an eerie voodoo doll dangles from the rear view mirror of the spooky van that will sweep Trip into his surreal trip, as it were, and unsavory night of missteps and miscreants.
Although "Through the Never" will undoubtedly play well to metal and monster rocker-types, will it "do good" over the long term? Take a long look at its poster featuring Trip. Is this the new literal poster child for a dystopian narrative which, like"The Matrix" and "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" before it, could incite some filmgoers to violence?
Opening wide in select theatres and on over 300 IMAX 3D screens on October 4, "Through the Never" will also play the Mill Valley Film Festival, October 3-13, an ironic and unlikely appearance since MVFF is located in the typically passive—if sometimes politically activist—Marin County.
But Marin is also home to two out of four of Metallica's band mates. Despite their emergence in and vibe of Los Angeles, Lars Ulrich, the Danish-born drummer, founder and leader, lives in Tiburon and James “Papa Het” Hetfield (lead singer and bassist also called “Jaymz”) calls San Rafael home. Rhythm guitarist, Kirk “The Ripper” Hammett hangs his hat in nearby San Francisco.
Meanwhile, Robert Trujillo (aka “The Whisky Warlord”), who has played bass for the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and met Metallica when opening for them in Suicidal Tendencies, lives in that classic LA rock star heaven Topanga Canyon.
Marin's tranquil idyll, however, has hardly quieted a band whose album titles include: "St. Anger", "Kill 'Em All", "Ride The Lightning", "And Justice For All", "Load,” “Reload,” and Death Magnetic" which have sold over 50 million albums in a long-spanning career.
Trip, the lead character and poster boy for 'Through the Never'. photo: J. R. Gordon
Not to forget their video albums: "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster", "Cliff 'Em All", a reference to the late Cliff Burton, who was tragically killed in the 1987 accident aboard the tour bus in Sweden, "Cunning Stunts" (a bit of lascivious word play—but you knew that already), and "S&M" which (contrary to what you might assume) was recorded in collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony.
Although metal fans have been described by the "Psychology Encyclopedia" as "boys rejected by their peers and ignored by their parents. Immature teenagers [with] often unrealistic views of death," let's hope that does not describe your typical Metallica fan. They are smarter than that and appreciate the music—it's always about the music.
Ask any metal head, including fans of Slayer, Anthrax and Judas Priest, and they will tell you Metallica "hung the moon." They are the archetype of a band which howls at the moon and the powers that be.
In fact, these are the guys who challenged Napster and won. In an extended case in LA County Court, their councils fileted the underlawyered Napster, eventually killing them off. Now, they are challenging the status quo of concert movies by "flipping it to the inside looking out," as their leader Lars put it.
On the other hand, in a country and culture that has long denied death and obsesses on youth, Metallica's members seem to see themselves as musical shamans standing at the underworld's gates and offering an informative description if not a full festival pass.
In-person, pre-and post-concert and at the Q&A I attended, they appeared perfectly personable, embodying child-rearing and mortgage-holding members of Marin society. But when they perform, we witness them entering a music-infused trance and their alter-egos are demonstrably mischievous and demon-like.
To be sure, front man James Hetfield has been through the trials and tribulations of alcohol abuse and "other addictions" and director Antal is known to fixate on intense situations, as we can see in “Predators,” “Vacancy” (2007) and “Kontroll” (2003).
"We just hope you dig it," Antal said at a recent screening at Comic-Con. Unlike previous Metallica output which focused predominantly on the Caucasian male, this one spans genres and demos. Indeed, "Through the Never" might become an instant classic with the high school set which is about to discover a newer, even bolder Metallica.
Metallica's new bassist as of 2003, Robert Trujillo, joined the band after Cliff Burton died in 1987 and the next bassist Jason Curtis Newsted moved on. photo: courtesy Metallica
If so, I predict it might have some devastating consequences. Due to the band's loyal fan base, impressionable viewers and the film's disturbing imagery, there may be copycats actions and, tragically, people may be harmed or killed.
"I believe that vulnerable youth may be more easily influenced by these types of movies and videos," says Dr. Beth Ann Brooks, a psychiatry professor at Wayne State, Detroit. "The problem is aggravated if they role-play through fantasy, or if they lose reality testing and believe they are amid the violence."
To be fair, some experts question whether the correlations are significant enough to justify considering media violence a substantial public health issue. And violent behavior is a complex issue with a host of other risk factors.
"Recall that the Columbine shooters were isolated, troubled boys who were apparently rejected by their peers and ignored by their parents," says Dr. Thomas Van Hoose, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas in Dallas. Excessive exposure to media violence often desensitizes viewers to real violence.
"Couple [it] with the immaturity of teenagers, their self-centeredness, and their often unrealistic views of death and you can get a deadly combination of motives and actions that can lead to tragedy."
Indeed, "Through the Never"'s brand of dark, post-apocalyptic imagery may be just the right cocktail to incite riots. At any rate, that's a good question for AMC's execs as the film goes wide on IMAX October 4 and Metallica's devoted fans don their gear to attend showings.
James Hetfield, the only original band member along with drummer Lars, wrote 'Enter Sandman' in 1991 inspired by deep fears and is a member of the NRA. photo: courtesy Getty Images
Actually, AMC said that moviegoers “in costumes that make other guests feel uncomfortable" will not be permitted, nor will "face-covering masks or fake weapons inside our buildings."
Although exposure to violent media isn’t the strongest incitement to violence, it’s more easily modified than other risk factors like being male, having a low socioeconomic status or a low IQ.
Sure theater chains need to respond to their customers safety concerns but denying thousands of fans the freedom to express their imagination and identify with their favorite comic book character due a random act of violence in Aurora Colorado may be, as they say, overkill. The bottom line evidence of a direct link between media violence and violent behavior is not conclusive; moreover blaming movies or video games while not instituting simple gun purchase background checks is absurd.
Nevertheless, a generation ago, some screenwriters had remorse about how cigarette smoking in Hollywood films contributed to young people picking up the filthy habit. I wonder if director Antal, or the members of Metallica will feel similar should their film result in injury or, hopefully not, death.
To be sure, a lot of Bible readers have become mass murderers and we are not contemplating banning it. Nonetheless, at what point does an artist go too far in the legitimate quest to plum the depths of our society, of our moral issues and their own dark side and crosses over to the simple quest for ratings, their audience's well-being be damned?
Jay Randy Gordon, The MARINsider, is an author, film fanatic and co-founder of the Sports Mavericks and can be reached . Posted on Oct 03, 2013 - 10:45 AM