"Metallica Through the Never" isn't a biopic or a documentary; it's concert film that falls flat with critics but impresses the Metallica lovers everywhere.
The release of the concert film on Friday seems fitting, as Mariano Rivera made headlines about his last home game at the New York Yankee stadium. Rivera would make his way onto the field to the tune of "Enter Sandman" by Metallica.
However, Rivera's "Exit Sandman" game Thursday night may not be enough to create a buzz around the "Metallica Through the Never", or get critics to stop calling the concert film "boring."
Check out what critics had to say about the film.
What the Los Angeles Times had to say about "Metallica Through the Never":
"The problem is that Antal and Metallica took two different movies - a fine live-band document and a supernatural end-of-days romp - and smashed them together to make both of them more boring... But like a blast-beat metal drummer lagging behind his band, the dialogue-free fictional segments and the live concert footage don't seem to have much to do with each other."
The Boston Globe called it a drawn out music video:
"Lest there be some young'un who thinks of 'Enter Sandman' as New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera's intro music and that's it, the guys in Metallica are here to remind us that there's a band behind the rage rock. The IMAX 3-D release 'Metallica Through the Never' is all about reasserting their relevance, loudly. Of course, it's also about doing some energetic-as-ever headbanging.
"The movie's marketing promises a fresh hybrid of concert film and narrative feature. But the band, which shares screenwriting credit with director Nimród Antal ('Predators'), doesn't seem interested in legit narrative. Instead, they're all about hypnagogic flashes and rocking their set, making this an old-school music video stretched to feature length."
The Detroit News gives the concert flick a B- rating:
"The concert footage alone earns the film a recommendation, but 'Through the Never' loses its way with a dopey narrative about a roadie (Dane DeHaan) sent to pick up a package for the band only to find a nightmarish apocalypse unfolding on the streets. The film keeps cutting back to these violent scenes, and we see bodies hanging from bridges and gas mask-wearing madmen riding armored horses.
It's all very silly, and unnecessary. Director Nimrod Antal ('Predators') thinks he's delivering a statement, but he's really just distracting from the task at hand. Metallica rocks enough on its own."
