Heavy Metal Britannia (2010)
Nigel Planer narrates a documentary which traces the origins and development of British heavy metal from its humble beginnings in the industrialised Midlands to its proud international triumph. Contributors include Lemmy, Sabbath's Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan from Deep Purple, Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and Saxon's Biff Byford.
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Memorable, crazy movie
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
I loved seeing all that old footage, and it was great to hear so many of the "gods of metal" talking about how they viewed the development of the genre. However, they jumped around in time like H.G. Wells' pet crack monkey.For example: Don't show clips of Breakin' the Law while you're discussing the early to mid 70s. Don't play Breadfan while you're discussing the mid-to-late 70s.This could have been so much better if only they'd not tried to deceive you about which music/video snippets occurred when.And quite what an original piece from Metallica was doing in the music, I don't know, this was supposed to be about Britain. It would have made sense to bring Metallica in for their plagiarism of Budgie etc., but it makes no sense showcasing their best original work, from the 80s, while trying to present music from the UK in the ~70s.