Becoming Led Zeppelin

Jimmy page has always been something of a (rightful) control freak when it comes to his 'baby', Led Zeppelin; and while their 12 year output is largely untarnished, there have been a few missteps following the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, like the ill-fated Live Aid reunion in 1985, so it's no surprise he, along with Plant and Jones, were initially a little tentative about a proposed 'official' documentary.

On one hand, 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' does live up to its title. This is not a band chronology, but the how and why of it all coming together, from their post-war childhoods to becoming infatuated with American blues, r&b, jazz, and rock music as teenagers. While it doesn't touch on every single influence, there is enough of an overview to get the cultural picture. All three surviving members provide an adequate narrative through new interviews. Although it's Page who is the most lucid and engaged, Plant and Jones are also informative, witty and affable.

Of course, the music does speak for itself, and is given plenty of screen time to do that, presenting live clips of complete songs with original audio. It would be easy to complain that most of these clips were released in 2003 on the 'Led Zeppelin Live' DVD, but they definitely benefit from the Imax treatment. One nice surprise, though, was the inclusion of unreleased footage from the Fillmore West, San Francisco in 1969, among others.

It all seems to add up to an engaging cohesive story, that is, until the director gets a case of montage fever and decides to recycle clips and songs we've already seen, in a ham-fisted way more than a few times, which just comes off as filler, and really cheapens the overall tone of the film.

So, does this film actually do justice to the mighty Zeppelin? It does accomplish its objective in cohesively covering the early years, and keeps us engaged with interviews, unseen clips and photos, but somehow manages to stray without a satisfactory conclusion. Still, I'm glad it exists, but could use a re-edit.

I did chuckle to myself watching this when the band talk about the bad reviews they received from the music press but how the fans ignored it anyway and through word of mouth the band became bigger and bigger with much adulation. Seeing the media reviews of this film against the fan reviews it seems nothing has changed in over 50 years.

But here's the thing. This is clearly made by a fan, for the fans. It's not for casual rock fans. It's almost 2 and a half hours covering only two years of the band (with the birth of the band covering the first hour or so) and it's power is in the build up, the interviews (only with the band and not the usual snippets from the cleaner and famous fans we've hardly heard of, which is the usual fare for these type of documentaries), the wonderful Bonzo audio and the phenomenal performances, some of which the band hadn't even seen. I can't wait for the inevitable (I hope) follow up. It's all I could of wished for when I first heard they were doing this, and more.

I went to the cinema to see 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' with my brother and saw it in IMAX. Didn't really know what to expect but I found the experience thoroughly enjoyable. I'm very familiar with their music catalogue and was a bit of a hippy myself in my teens, though post Led Zeppelin in the late 70's and early 80's, so I never saw them live (although I did go to a cinema 'all nighter that included 'The Song Remains the Same' movie!). I don't listen to them much these days but it was great to revisit their first two albums, hear their amazing music again and see the rare footage and listen to them talking nostalgically about those exciting formative days.

One of the things the documentary impressed on me was how stripped down those early performances were. There is hardly any lighting, the stages are often the size of a postage stamp and some the audiences on their first US tour were really tough (check out the kids putting their fingers in their ears - hilarious). This gave me a real appreciation for their dedication to the music as they give it 100% regardless.

So, I know there's been a lot of water under the bridge, and even though Robert, Jimmy and John Paul (and even John posthumously) are interviewed separately for this documentary there's a whole lotta love for the halcyon days of energy and creativity of the sixties. The documentary brings the era alive with some well chosen news reel footage and even rare footage of the band members playing pre-Zeppelin. In regard to this - a special moment is when they are reacting to video footage that they had not seen before - priceless.

On the picky side there is plenty of 'lick and stick' editing going on - you know, putting clips together with music from a different recording and making a less than convincing hash of it - but its a forgivable conceit really (for fans) and worth overlooking to make the most of all the archive material.

All in all we had a great night out at the cinema and I can say with some confidence that if you were ever a fan of the first two Zeppelin albums your gonna love this trip down memory lane - it's a whole lotta rock n roll nostalgia.

I do like Led Zeppelin, and would have loved to see Becoming Black Sabbath a little more but I did love this documentary. As someone who does understand what Zeppelin means to music I enjoyed listening to the band explain what it was like to... Become Led Zeppelin. It was an interesting story. I especially liked the band's respect for what came before them. Where I come from it is a running joke about how Led Zeppelin stole black music, but thinking about it in the eyes of someone living in 2025, I see a group of Brits living at a time when the American Dream was still alive and they herd it though African American music. It's just a respect for music that I don't see anymore. An Excellent band with an Excellent Rock and Roll story.

I loved it. The second album was always my favorite, and I'm glad they went into depth on all the songs. Ramble On & What Is And What Should Never Be got the love they deserved.

I wasn't alive to get to see them perform (I'm 18 😭) but in the middle of high school I discovered all of their music and fell in love with them. This movie gave me everything I wanted, and there was a lot I didn't even know about. I as I stated before, I really hope they make a 2nd part, just because I want to see them go into Physical Graffiti.

Anyways I wanted to write a review to support the movie and tell you all to go watch, you won't be disappointed! I'm sure it's the closest you can get to being in one of their concerts.