The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

A well done documentary that covers a genre I do not particularly care for. The whole death-black satanic metal really disturbs me. The interviews with those guys from Norway really turned my stomach. What a bunch of sickos! Other basic hair glamor metal I can get into on occasion, but the other stuff is just creepy. The 80's footage of the kids outside of a metal concert is priceless. I wonder whatever happened to them? This film will most likely not convert outsiders to the metal side. I can attest to this. But, it's interesting nonetheless. I was glad to see Klostertaler offering his insights. He's a legend!

Metal is a personal journey of filmmaker Sam Dunn to the roots of heavy metal. While this adds a personal touch, I think it's what makes Metal a less effective documentary.The film consists of interviews of major heavy metal people, although none of them reveal anything that a metal fan wouldn't already know. Also, I think you already have to know these people to get off of the fact Tom Araya or Dio is being interviewed. Not to mention the people more obscure to the mainstream. Also, I found it a bit funny how the film tries to find maturity in heavy metal, while probably the lengthiest fan interview is of a 14-year-old girl in a studded choker.Another flaw is that few things are explored in depth. The film is constantly skimming on the subject. The anecdotes from the metal giants reveal more about the essence of heavy metal than the actual processed information. A lot of is skipped, such as the connection between Norwegian black metal and Neo-Nazism - even though an interviewee states the black metalists' view themselves as a selected few and that think certain groups must be eliminated (where have I heard that before?).Also, since the film tries to educate the viewer, Dunn should have had taken a bit more educational angle. For example, the tritone is mentioned but the viewer probably would get more of it if there actually was an explicit comparison of the demonic notes and the less demonic notes. Now it is just stated that heavy metal traditionally uses a blues scale and Satan's really horrible notes.It is not to say Metal is entirely without any credit. It gives some general insight to the genre and has the correct people talking about it. The only real mistakes are that it tries to take a too big bite and that it's trying to sell freezers to Inuits.

METAL: A HEADBANGER'S JOURNEY is probably the best documentary EVER on the Heavy Metal scene. It encompasses virtually all of metal sub-genres like Hard Rock, Glam, Black, Power (although I have trouble with defining this sub genre in particular), death, prog and thrash. The film's mastermind, 31 year old Sam Dunn, does an excellent job dissecting the genre, from its classical and blues origins, to why the Scandinavian black metal scene is so evil. He even goes out of his way to set up a genealogical tree for metal! For the metal fan who enjoys or enjoyed some of the metal sub genres presented here, he/she will be full of ecstasy and for the uninitiated, this is a good place to start. Interviews with SLAYER, MOTLEY CRUE, EMPEROR, IRON MAIDEN, MAYHEM, DIO, BLACK SABBATH, RUSH, SLIPKNOT, KORN, ARCH ENEMY, TWISTED SISTER, etc. will only leave you wanting for more and more. There's a nice flow to the documentary and, in my humble opinion, wasn't bored in the least.What I didn't like too much was the fact that Sam Dunn barely talks about thrash metal. Yeah, he mentions METALLICA, MEGADETH, and there's the SLAYER interview, but this sub genre is the one that gets least mentioned (taking into account today's biggest metal band, METALLICA, arose from the thrash movement).On the other hand, black metal and death metal receive more film time. Maybe Sam Dunn wanted to leave the thrash part less explored due to the upcoming thrash documentary, "GET THRASHED", which has been in the making for at least 4 years.Minor complaints aside, this documentary rocks and if you're a fan of the genre you'll do no wrong in getting this essential film in your DVD library. Thrash on!!!

I was dragged along to a film festival to see this by a mate after he convinced me based solely on a picture of a fat metalhead playing an inflatable pink guitar at an unnamed concert. Thus I was expecting something pretty cheesy and maybe a bit of fun. What a surprise Metal: A Headbangers Journey turned out to be. The guy who made it, Sam Dunn is a anthropologist and metalhead who treats his subject both seriously and with a bit of humour and his love for what he is describing, as well as obviously deep knowledge of the subject, goes a long way to making Metal: AHJ so worthwhile. It has an excellent global rather than US or British focus and covers everything from the roots of metal to all it's various past and present incarnations with almost all of the information coming from either band members themselves, fans or interested third parties from various academic backgrounds. The documentary is divided into sub-sections such as Roots, Controversy, Gender and Satanism and held together by following of our documentarian Sam as he conducts various interviews and visits festivals and countries like a touring band himself. Perhaps the most interesting part was the section on Black Metal, with interviews with both Norwegian church burners and advocates balanced against the Minister of one of said burnt churches without going the easy road into provocations and angry sniping. Every metalhead I know who saw this loved it (although equally everyone has some minor disagreement with the metal family tree Dunn presents) but equally everyone who I made watch it with me who was not into metal came away surprised at how interesting and enjoyable it was. Best moment: Ghaal from Gorgoroth's answer to "What is Black Metal?" (so dead serious but all the more hysterically funny for it). Complaints? Simply too short, even with all the extras on the second disk (many of which are excellent just as stand alone pieces-Lemmy is a highlight here too!) on DVD.