Heavier Trip - Road to Wacken

This movie felt so awesome to watch. It's unapologetically itself at all times in the best of ways. Hilarious bits nonstop, badass metal music, all the characters are excellent and the villains sinister and fun, and an absolutely banger soundtrack (from the perspective of a metal guy.)

I also really appreciate the authenticity of the movie. The actors are believable metalheads, the metal culture is brought out in a way that must come from real metalheads, and I appreciate the linguistic realism as well.

This was one of the best movies of the year for me, and I imagine even a nonmetal person would enjoy this!

This movie includes a fairly complex plot with twists & turns, it looks good and the main characters are all different, realistic and well performed. The setting is great, and will please both metal and non-metal fans. A lot of the jokes are dark humour, and reflect the complexity of trying to survive in the music industry quite realistically. There are several different locations, including a city centre and the Wacken festival. They have gone through some real effort to put this together. I don't know what the budget for this was, but it's very well executed. I have not seen the first movie called "Heavy Trip" but went to the theater today encouraged by a friend, you do not need to have seen the first movie to see this. The soundtrack is superb, there are a lot of different tracks that blend well in with the story..

What can I say? I went to see this movie with an expectation to see a comedy movie revolving around metal music, its subcultures and oh boy, did it deliver! One of the best good mood movies I have seen in ages and a real delight for anyone who understands metal culture and how it is.

I have seen the first movie and while I liked it, it felt more like a drama movie of how it is difficult to live in a small countryside town when you don't fit in. The guys being metal heads was like a side bonus - they could have been anything else. Here, in the sequel, Turo and his band members being metalheads is the carrying force the movie relies on. As it should! I have to say, from bottom of my heart, that this movie was so, so much better than the first one. More on the comedic side and hey, there was a lot more heavy metal music, too!

Xytrax is again one of the best things this movie has to offer. The joke of Xytrax liking some other bands than the pure black metal or "real metal" ones was a delight because every single black metal guy I know has a secret band crush on something "wrong". One of the guys I know loves Madonna, while the other is a big fan of Ayumi Hamasaki, and so on. There are lots of little treats for metal fans and people understanding the subculture like these in the movie. Spot an Immortal reference, Peter Steele and Misfits!

I was super happy to see Oula getting more role in the movie. He actually makes a great addition into the team and the band feels coherent, even when Jynkky from the first movie is missing. Oula didn't just take Jynkky's spot, he became part of the band. Bravo!

I also loved that the movie touched the topic of stardom and being really famous; the audience doesn't come to listen to our music and doesn't care what we want to say with our lyrics - they only came to ogle us and wish to get into our pants. There's no privacy, no genuine care, just lust for a piece of meat on a stage. Not to mention how much money rules in the music business, metal included.

Definitely a big praise for this movie. It is a good mood movie and really made for the metal audience - a general audience might not get as much out from this movie as the target audience but it is okay. It's worth it.

While it doesn't quite reach the quality of the first movie, it still offers plenty of lighthearted entertainment and a few good laughs.

I mean the plot "band falling apart due to an evil greedy producer guy but gets back together in the end" has been done to death but I'll always enjoy a good, tongue in cheek metal spin on it.

Just don't expect any deep, thought-out story arks, oscar-worthy acting or character growth and you'll have a good time. The music is decent and the cast is likeable.

One smaller gripe I have: It wouldn't hurt to be a little less tropey at times. The forced image change on a band to be more mainstream generally makes for a few good laughs but even that has been overdone by now.

I was a big fan of the first movie. An irreverent, creative and very funny comedy about a bunch of metalheads from a dead end town in Finland looking for their big break, encountering ever more ridiculous situations. Clearly made by people who know and love metal culture but also enjoy poking fun at its more openly ridiculous aspects.

The only moment where it started to lose me was the relatively uncreative and much too conventional finale which felt more like how an American remake of the same material would handle it.

After seeing the trailer I began to fear part two would just going to be exactly that, but stretched to 90 minutes.

And yup, that's basically what happened....

The plot couldn't be more cliched if they tried, you can see every beat coming from a mile away and the last half hour especially becomes a total slog.

It's not a complete failure, the chemistry between the cast is great as ever, there are some good tunes throughout and the constant stabs at Finland's friendly neighbor Norway did make me chuckle at least, but the bog-standard plot and lack of ideas drag this movie way down. The seemingly endless barrage of cameos from the metal scene just smells of desperation and all the music references felt way too obvious this time around.

Heavy trip was the little movie that could. This feels strangely corporate by comparison.

It brings me no joy to say it, but what a disappointment.