Metal Lords

If you're a metal fan this will give you a few laugh out loud moments but otherwise it's fairly standard high school romcom 'battle of the bands' fare. Inevitably I found myself thinking of Jack Black (school of rock) as the die hard Hunter (Greensmith) incessantly goes into ecstatic monologues about how they will dominate all with their band. The love story plot isn't bad - although, a little 'Grease' with the 'good girl turned bad' trope - but you can't help rising to the theme and going all in as Panteras 'I'm broken' is deployed at just the right moment (enjoy!). Add in some surprise metal guest appearances and a few really well executed slapstick jokes and this is really ok for a few laughs but sadly falls short of the 'file under classic' it might have been.

I wasn't really expecting a whole lot from the 2022 comedy "Metal Lords" from writer D. B. Weiss and director Peter Sollett as I sat down to watch the movie. Why? Well, first of all I hadn't heard about the movie, so I wasn't sure what I was in for here. And secondly, then the synopsis for the movie just seemed a bit too generic for a movie of this kind. But still, I opted to watch "Metal Lords".

Turns out that "Metal Lords" was actually rather enjoyable. Sure, it was somewhat on the generic side in terms of innovation and creativity for a movie such as this. But still, it proved to be an enjoyable and entertaining movie. And that was definitely a large part because of the cast and their performances. But the storyline certainly was adequate enough.

Lead actors Adrian Greensmith (playing Hunter) and Jaeden Martell (playing Kevin) were rather well-cast for "Metal Lords", and they carried the movie quite well.

I will say that "Metal Lords" was definitely a movie suited for me, because I've been listening to metal since I was around 11 or 12 years old or so, and been playing roleplaying games for that very same amount of time, and I am almost 47 by now. So the metal references and the Dungeons & Dragons references throughout the movie were as if tailored for my interests.

I was genuinely entertained by "Metal Lords", because it was a movie that transcended being just another run-of-the-mill movie about youngsters forming a metal band and going against the mainstream. There were also good elements of friendship, love, being an outsider and not a bland face in the crowd, and such, so it was a well-rounded movie.

My rating of "Metal Lords" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

This movie rocked! Not only the kids acted great, but they were perfect for their roles: cute when they were playing it real, hard when they suffered and inspiring as rock singers. The film uses metal band shenanigans to tell the story of how young people feel and are treated by the world and how they treat each other, but it is never blunt or preachy and allows all characters to evolve. The more I think about the film, the more I like it.

Also, awesome song at the end. Not really a metal fan, but even if you don't enjoy the rest of the film that much, the ending song makes it worth it.

It's th perfect movie for a weekend evening. It's a bit comedy, a bit drama, a bit teenage angst, a bit romcom and a lot of heavy metal noise. It also includes some great cameos from veteran heavy metal rockers.

Lots of references and nods to Metal and D&D. Captures the trials and tribulations of being a loser at school.

Don't try to and analyze and critique this too much.....just solid fun, with some heart. Enjoy!