Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar

This is the end, whether anyone Iikes it or not. Is it a great end? Great question!

First off for anyone who doesn't know, Metalocalypse is a now "old" TV series that just "ended" one day without warning for us, the viewers. It was about a band (Dethklok) of egotistical idiots who understood nothing in life except "brutality" (as well as drugs, sex, and heavy metal.) The show was filled with jokes of all kinds, including witty (often, from dumb characters,) one-liners, over-the-top satirical commentary on the subject of being famous (and even more isolated on music, metal, and specifically extreme metal, in general), and humor involving guts and gore. The show was also loaded with epic, death metal songs with an often power metal flavor to the instrumentation. All the while, as our 5 main heroes (the band) trudge through ridiculous antics and silly life lessons, there is a deeper meaning to the show...

Ya see, Dethklok (the extreme metal band) surpasses Belgium (yeah, the country,) in the top ten largest economies of the world (again, yeah, a band, a metal band, at that, being bigger, financially speaking, than nearly all countries)... and that's just a two second mention in the first episode. This information is presented by military and religious leaders to some dude who wears a suit and sits in a throne in the war room. It turns out, that "dude" might just be someone. Obviously, the show had deep thoughts from the get go. It's called Metalocalypse, after all.

Fast forward a few seasons (all of them, excellent,) a gap in time, an operatic movie (also, excellent,) and an even bigger gap in time, and here we are.

This movie ties up all the loose ends from everything that came before it. It tells the story of a band literally trying to end the Apocalypse by doing what they do best (music, of course). However, gone is much of the brutality and fun of the original series and the "Rock Opera," including nearly all the jokes (inside jokes included) and "zingers."

If you've never seen Metalocalypse and stumbled across this, watch the series first. If you're a fan, you likely already knew the magic was gone. See it for what it is: The End. Could it have been more fun? Absolutely! Was it still funny? Not particularly. Was it bad? Not at all. Could it have been better? Of course it could have been. Is it slower paced than usual? Yes. Does it drag? Nah. Does it tie up the loose ends? Effectively enough. Would I recommend it? Only if you were already going to watch it anyway, which is why I didn't write this review for you (the fans), because you knew what this was already...for here lies the final resting spot of Metalocalypse. May it rest in peace...finally...

Judging by the other reviews, it seems like fans really just wanted more Metalocalypse. That's great, but after binging the series, I really did want to know what it was all about. The production value here was miles above any in the series. At first ir seemed odd to have less metal in Metalocalypse, but the music was honestly amazing. It truly felt epic, which is how a finale should feel. And the art? Oh my God, the art. Those backgrounds were absolutely beautiful, and I'm a sucker for a beautiful, bloody apocalypse - reminds me of my dreams. People have noted the comedy was lackluster, which may be true, as I don't really remember much about the jokes, but the rest of it left a mark ans I found the whole thing a lot of fun.

Coming back after a decade hiatus, expectations of this movie were going to go against it to begin with, sure. I think most of us would have settled for any resolution, but it's moreso HOW they chose to tell it and what they focused on that made this movie feel off, especially compared to the spectacular Doomstar Requiem.

Metalocalypse's original draw was its humor, with plenty of music and metal subculture/in-jokes to be extra endearing to those who took notice. The world plot is really not that important. Ironically, the whole "the band is central to the fate of the world" plot originated as a joke because of the funny dissonance that came with 5 low-IQ hedonistic narcissists being so central to world affairs. Sure you had a few hardcore, dramatic moments like Offdensen's arc or Nathan's eulogy that added some relishable gravity to the series, but for each of these moments there were a dozen or so jokes to keep the show from insisting it was some relationship drama anime that it never built the foundation to stand on.

The movie opens and the humor already misses the mark. Traumatized by the rescue of Toki, the bandmates repeat the F word over and over in an interview in some bit that wouldn't even have been that funny in a 2000s flash cartoon. (This is also where Jon Hamm has his cameo. Despite his top billing, his character is mostly irrelevant and has under 10 lines). From here on, there are very few attempts at jokes, and most didn't land for me.

If you've ever had the misfortune of reading Youtube comments or loading a Tumblr page, you'll come across this weird fan meta narrative that the band is a family. Cutesy artworks and narratives about Nathan being "band dad," Pickles the band mom, Toki the baby, and so on. The movie actually tries to incorporate this... REALLY awkwardly and uncomfortably. In more than a few scenes, especially the opening, they very inorganically have Pickles acting motherly and like a spouse to Nathan, going so far to have Toki cry like an infant in a public place. No idea if the writers thought these fanfic people comprised the general fanbase or something.

After bucking that, the movie goes onto almost exclusively focus on Nathan. This is not about the band like the last movie or couple seasons were; it's about Nathan's personal growth, development, and interaction with loved ones and music... you know, the guy who for years was just a comedic dumb ape whose entire life philosophy was just adhering to cartoonish "brutality..." they felt prudent to make sure he learns his moral lessons and to love again. It came across very forced and inappropriately saccharine in many spots. I'd say the only character who gets a somewhat reasonable and in-character ending is Murderface, who did get a pretty solid payoff for the cliff-hanger at the end of Requiem. Yeah, the final conclusion they arrive on with him was a bit cheesy and too dissonant a mix of "it has to have heart, but it also has to be funny," but at least it's something. The other three bandmembers get basically no arc beyond what they can provide Nathan.

The pacing of the whole thing is very weird. There is a lot of "oh yeah, we did that previously, now forget about it" in Act I, meandering in Act II, and great haste to wrap everything up in Act III. This story felt like the movie needed to be double the length, or spread out over a final season. To its credit, most major characters get a resolution, but some, including the main antagonist, are swept off the screen just as quickly as they arrive. I will say Knubbler's role was a great exception, a fine mix of silly and serious that gave his character a fitting resolution.

Other than those overarching criticisms, I can't say it was offensive to watch. I'm continuing to listen to Dethalbum 4, which I don't like as much as 2 or 3 but it's growing on me. I don't think the score was as grand or memorable for this as Requiem, especially considering the "Song of Salvation" was supposed to be worthy of saving the world. The animation in this is probably its strongest asset. They really broke out the big guns not just for the movement but the art direction as well. The scene of Murderface's climax looked almost out of old-school Disney.

Overall, I don't think making this movie for those invested in the originally-satirical plot or the Tumblr people was the best move. It was meant to be a finale for the SERIES and the core fans, not just a checklist for the plot points. It needed to be longer and mapped out better, with stronger flow and more self-awareness of just how goofy the core premise is. I don't know if the writers thought that the plot of Metalocalypse was what had the most fans invested, or if they just lost taste for what the show used to be over 17 years and wanted to make something more serious, shoehorning that tone into their old material.

The Doomstar Requiem was a much better approach: putting the music and main characters centerstage, not caring so much about why they're there or if the "lore" is satisfied, plenty of gags, and a couple heartfelt moments just as icing instead of the cake. It serves as a more true series finale to me than Army, which I'd just give a tepid recommendation if you REALLY need to know what happens to the world and all the characters.

Ten years after the phenomenal "The Doomstar Requiem" comes the sequel "Army of the Doomstar", this time as a feature-length animated film. All the technical aspects of the series we loved are here again, everything is apparently the same as it was, except for the most important - humor. Not that this isn't hilariously funny, but it's not even mildly entertaining. One big nothing dragged out for almost an hour and a half, with characters rendered pathetic, rare and failed attempts at humor, and without a single catchy track. Not only is there nothing memorable, but it is so boring that I did not manage to watch it all at once. Shame.

5/10.

I loved the tv series. Seasons 1 to 3 in particular I've probably seen at least 4 to 5 times each. However if you're here for a laugh you won't find it in this. It's just the "lore" of the doomstar and anything else which I feel was better when it was in the background. I'll admit this was WAY better than the "musical" ego trip they put together but this is still not very good. Maybe a die hard fan who has no sense of humor will love it. At least this was better than the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie that came out recently.

I liked it better when the series was about out of touch rockstars. Getting plastic surgery, why it's dangerous to date fans or trying to get back to their roots are three that come to mind. The episodes were mostly short but because of that we craved more. Compare that to the 4th season of The Twilight Zone where the episodes doubled in length and some of them were extremely difficult to get through.

The art style was very hit or miss. The final battle was trash. This was a great idea on paper but perhaps it was the best they could do with their budget. I found myself constantly getting bored as the story struggled to keep me involved. I love how spiteful Nathan is to the fans telling them where to go in the beginning too. This is full of boring cliches and I didn't enjoy it at all to the point I wish this was never made.

Either way. If there is little to no humor and just the "lore" it honestly that's like if half the band didn't show up to play a concert. Yeahhh pickles and toki showed up!