Movie Review for Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

Summary: A music documentary about the trials and tribulations of the heavy metal group Metallica as they cut their first album in six years. The members of one of the most successful heavy-metal band in history submit to two years of intensive group therapy to work through conflicts in their 20-year working relationship.

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Jurgen Fauth of About.com (7/0)
            Less Therapeutica and more Alcoholica would have been welcome.

By Phil Villarreal of Arizona Daily Star (7/0)
            There's something so right about seeing multimillionaire metal monsters reduced to crybabies, sla...

By Jamie Russell of BBC (7/0)
            Whether you know everything or nothing about Metallica, it will rock you.

By Ty Burr of Boston Globe (7/0)
            [An] overlong but startling heavy metal-therapy documentary.

By Rob Thomas of Capital Times (Madison, WI) (6/1)
            it’s truly laudable that the band let them keep filming, even after what was originally intended ...

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            Metallica: Some Kind of Monster doesn't require you to know anything about the band Metallica or ...

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Jeff Otto of cinemaobsession.com (7/0)
            Head-bangers and novice metalheads alike should find this bare-bones, honest, often brutal rock m...

By Mark Palermo of Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) (6/1)
            Uncompromising but never hateful, Some Kind of Monster is a very good movie and, within its own s...

By Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid (7/0)
            This extraordinary film deserves mention alongside such great rock movies as Gimme Shelter and St...

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (6/1)
            Overlong and repetitious.

By Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing (7/0)
            A compelling documentary that allows us exposure to musicians in a more personal manner than usua...

By Chris Vognar of Dallas Morning News (7/0)
            No rock doc has burrowed so deeply into the bruised egos, arrested development and internal confl...

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
            By the time the film is over, you'll have witnessed a curious creative process, seeing not just a...

By Doris Toumarkine of Film Journal International (7/0)
            An intimate and expansive portrait of a band grappling with inner demons and external forces that...

By Nick Schager of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            has plenty of stuff to savor

By Edward Havens of FilmJerk.com (7/0)
            There is no better time for this film to be, even if its appeal would be mostly limited to band f...

By Victoria Alexander of FilmsInReview.com (7/0)
            Carefully structured from 1600 hours of film, yet still an impressive insight into Metallica's wo...

By Larry Carroll of FilmStew.com (7/0)
            The worst kind of rockumentary: a boring, self-important, uninspired portrayal of a band more tha...

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Filosopher (7/0)
            [P]rofoundly moving... may well be the new yardstick against which the next 20 years of rock movi...

By Bill Clark of FromTheBalcony (7/0)
            Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster is a masterpiece of rock 'n roll documentary filmmaking, and has ...

By James Adams of Globe and Mail (7/0)
            It's less rockumentary and more exploration of, and meditation on long-term relationships, creati...

By Ross Anthony of Hollywood Report Card (7/0)
            A magnificent documentary! I talked about it for seven days afterwards.

By Sura Wood of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            These are rich, aging men in a young man's game, and the discrepancy between image and reality, c...

By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (6/1)
            Although frequently funny, the movie ultimately works or not based on the music. And, even for n...

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Jane Stevenson of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            It's the fly-on-the-wall aspect of seeing these heavy-metal kingpins express intimate emotions th...

By JoBlo of JoBlo's Movie Emporium (7/0)
            ...an intriguing study of an extremely popular heavy metal band and their personal issues.

By Keith H. Brown of Kinocite (7/0)
            [Shows] less 'the majesty of rock' ... than the banal yet ultimately far more inspirational reali...

By Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope (7/0)
            Overlong, but interesting documentary of heavy metal band Metallica.

By Jeannette Catsoulis of Las Vegas Mercury (6/1)
             The real beauty of "Metallica" is its understanding of a business, and a fan base, that provid...

By Luke Y. Thompson of Los Angeles CityBeat (7/0)
            I still think Metallica rocks, but I don’t know if you will.

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Manohla Dargis of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            It's head-banging entertainment from start to finish.

By Duane Dudek of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7/0)
            A cultural document of significance and insight about group dynamics, the creative process and th...

By David N. Butterworth of Movie Boeuf (6/1)
            Comparisons to This is Spinal Tap abound in this inside look at the heavy metal rock band Metalli...

By Jeremy Heilman of MovieMartyr.com (7/0)
            Because of its unexpected level of intimacy, it will likely hold the interest of even those with ...

By John Anderson of Newsday (7/0)
            There's an almost soap-opera aspect to the story, about people with deep affection for each other...

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            Like a hopelessly elongated episode of 'Behind the Music'...By the end many viewers might think t...

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel (7/0)
            If you're a fan, you will almost certainly be touched by this effort to put an entire dysfunction...

By Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (7/0)
            It's hard for me to grok why Metallica is the most popular or the most hated heavy-metal band ...

By Jeanne Aufmuth of Palo Alto Weekly (7/0)
            One of the most intriguing films of the year.

By Jay Antani of Perihelion Journal (7/0)
            An entertaining and penetrating look at the creative process

By Sean Burns of Philadelphia Weekly (7/0)
            ...a riveting fly-on-the-wall look at a dysfunctional family behaving badly during its darkest ho...

By Jon Popick of Planet Sick-Boy (6/1)
            Who else would give documentary filmmakers this kind of access to their lives? I’ll tell you who...

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (7/0)
            Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky could hardly have known what they were in for when they set out ...

By Linda Cook of Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) (6/1)
            You don't need to be a Metallica fan to appreciate this well-done documentary.

By Louis Proyect of rec.arts.movies.reviews (7/0)
            Probing study of dysfunctional heavy metal band

By David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews (7/0)
            ...there's more than enough here to hold the interest of those that aren't necessarily into this ...

By Pam Grady of Reel.com (7/0)
            This is an engrossing film for anyone interested in the ongoing saga of the human condition.

By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            has a pretty similar trajectory to Sam Jones's wonderful "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," but ...

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (7/0)
            Don't let anyone spoil the surprises of this thrashing, thrilling chunk of cinematic gold. It's o...

By Harry Guerin of RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) (7/0)
            Easier to like and admire than the album that spawned it.

By Sean Means of Salt Lake Tribune (7/0)
            Berlinger and Sinofsky... have created the most revelatory movie about musical creativity since L...

By Neva Chonin of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            Transcends the rockumentary genre and becomes something uniquely its own.

By Bill White of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            Berlinger and Sinofsky, with their knack for penetrating the diabolical pretensions of weak and d...

By Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
            The film will engage a much broader audience than just Metallica fans.

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            Some Kind of Monster is a first: a film that’s intimate to a fault.

By John Venable of Supercala.com (7/0)
            The filmmakers didn't do anything to make Metallica look like douchebags, the band did that very ...

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/0)
            Funny, insightful, and brave - not exactly the first words that come to mind when I think of Meta...

By Tony Medley of tonymedley.com (7/0)
            Too long...For them to allow their petulant disagreements to be so widely seen indicates that the...

By Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide's Movie Guide (7/0)
            A mesmerizing spectacle.

By Claudia Puig of USA Today (7/0)
            Even if you're not a fan of their music, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster is a revelation: funny, ...

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Chuck Eddy of Village Voice (7/0)
            A two-and-a-half-hour puff piece about how 'important' Metallica are and, worse, how much 'integr...

By Willie Waffle of WaffleMovies.com (7/0)
            It works because there is something oddly compelling about watching legendary heavy metal, hard r...

By Desson Thomson of Washington Post (7/0)
            Serious, funny, frustrating and touching.

By John Beifuss of Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            The band's literal Dr. Phil even develops a 'Metallica Mission Statement' that asks the musicians...

By A. O. Scott of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            The filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky turn what might have been a conventional behind-t...

By Michael Senft of Arizona Republic (6/1) No reference
            An unflinching and often hilarious look at the humanity of these heavy-metal gods.

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Christine James of Boxoffice Magazine (3/4) No reference
            Keeping the docu from feeling like a whine-fest is Hetfield, whose sharp-humored, powerful presen...

By Robert Wilonsky of Dallas Observer (6/1) No reference
            The movie permits us to hover from first riff to last encore, during which Metallica finds a new ...

By Ricardo Baca of Denver Post (3/4) No reference
            It's great emotional fodder for old-school Metallica fans and smart, tugging drama for people unf...

By Robert Denerstein of Denver Rocky Mountain News (3/4) No reference
            By the time this fascinating two-hour- and-20-minute film ends, you'll have seen the group rise f...

By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (6/1) No reference
            While it does give us a more honest glimpse into the business of rock music, the film is also mor...

By Richard Roeper of Ebert & Roeper (3/4) No reference
            ... a brilliant film.

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Sean O'Connell of Eclipse Magazine (3/4) No reference
            Berlinger and Sinofsky manipulate almost two years of raw footage into one coherent, riveting and...

By Jim Agnew of Film Threat (3/4) No reference
            The members of Metallica have become so successful and so insulated from the real world that they...

By Tim Merrill of Film Threat (3/4) No reference
            The result will stand as one of the most intense, in-depth, warts-and-all rockumentaries ever mad...

By Guylaine Cadorette of Hollywood.com (3/4) No reference
            This silly juxtaposition of hardened, tattooed headbangers lamenting about abandonment issues is ...

By Timothy Finn of Kansas City Star (3/4) No reference
            Like all worthwhile rock documentaries, Monster turns its viewers into voyeurs, taking them insid...

By Greg Burk of L.A. Weekly (3/4) No reference
            Puts you eye to human eye with struggling creatures neither fully god nor fully beast.

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Glenn Whipp of Los Angeles Daily News (3/4) No reference
            Now that they're past 40 with families of their own, Hetfield and Ulrich finally face their demon...

By Chris Riemenschneider of Minneapolis Star Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Fans of the band will love the revealing footage, especially landmark moments such as bassist aud...

By Michael Elliott of Movie Parables (6/1) No reference
            A circuitous and rocky road indeed.

By James Rocchi of Netflix (6/1) No reference
            Raw, riveting rock doc goes inside a mega-band's crisis -- and captures an unexpectedly human sea...

By Stephen Whitty of Newark Star-Ledger (3/4) No reference
            Berlinger and Sinofsky are very good at both capturing the specifics of these men's quarrels and ...

By Karen Karbo of Oregonian (3/4) No reference
            Some Kind of Monster is some weird kind of wonderful.

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Steve Schneider of Orlando Weekly (3/4) No reference
            On its own merits, the movie is an enthralling (if overlong) group portrait; viewed in context, i...

By Forrest Hartman of Reno Gazette-Journal (6/1) No reference
            What the film lacks in music, it makes up for with emotional upheavals and conflict.

By Chris Macias of Sacramento Bee (6/1) No reference
            The polar opposite of a puff piece. It's raw and sometimes ugly, but strives for honesty and inte...

By George Varga of San Diego Union-Tribune (3/4) No reference
            A memorable tragic-comedy that produces its share of laughs in between the very real tears of rag...

By Angela Baldassarre of Sympatico.ca (3/4) No reference
             Poignantly honest and brave, and fascinating even for those of us unfamiliar with Metallica's mu...

By John A. Nesbit of ToxicUniverse.com (6/1) No reference
            Berlinger and Sinofsky have raised the bar even higher with subjects who dare to risk exposing th...

                         Reviews of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (3/4) Not Reachable
            It's not the sort of film that will make you like its subjects, but you will understand them and ...

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