Rating: **
Review Date: 4/25/09
Cast: Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith,
Nicko McBrain, Janick Gers, Blaze Bayley, Paul Di'Anno, cameos by Tom Morello,
Javier Bardem, Scott Ian, Gene Simmons, Lars Ulrich, Chuck D, Ross Halfin
Marking the band's 50th anniversary, this film is a celebration of Iron Maiden's rise, fall, and rebirth, as well as the cultural impact they've made all over the world. For better or worse, it plays it safe and is more reverential than informational, which makes it feel like a scrapbook rather than a documentary or critical essay. There's no narrative structure, and the film is essentially just a collection of vintage video clips with voiceovers by the band (mostly Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson), combined with bits of embarrassingly cringey CGI animation and people talking about how great the band is. Some of the celebrity appearances include Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Scott Ian (Anthrax), Gene Simmons (KISS), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), and Simon Gallup (The Cure). Surprisingly, Public Enemy's Chuck D has the most profound and philosophical comments about the band, proving that their appeal transcends all cultures. But by far the highlight of the show is watching Javier Bardem passionately express his love for the band. He brings the star power and perfectly encapsulates what Maiden fandom is all about, and how the fans create community and unity.
Seeing Iron Maiden on the big screen is always a rare treat, and the last time I experienced that was with 2009's "Flight 666." That only played the art theater circuit, while "Burning Ambition" bears the Universal Studios logo and actually played at my local AMC multiplex. The experience was very different, and since the film is primarily comprised of decades old video clips, they look absolutely terrible on the big screen. Even clips from the superlative "Live After Death" (1985) look poor, which was shot on 35mm film, but it looks like they used the laserdisc as source material. It's a shame they couldn't use the actual film elements, assuming they even exist. The footage is also spliced together nonsensically to compress the songs, which is annoying.
With fifty years of history, you're obviously not going to get a deep dive or even all of the highlights. While it's nice that they gave some respect and redemption to the much-maligned Blaze Bayley era, other critical moments are frustratingly glossed over, like Paul Di'Anno's departure and death, Clive Burr's departure and death, and no mention of any of the early lineup like Dennis Stratton, Dennis Wilcock, Paul Mario Day, or Doug Samson. Album cover artist Derek Riggs is only mentioned in passing once, which is a shame because his work was so instrumental in defining the band's mythology. It definitely feels like the film was made by an outsider with little involvement from the band, which brings an interesting perspective. It's more interested in the fans, and the community and culture that Maiden has inspired and nurtured. It's a feeling of belonging, expressing one's self without judgement, escaping the shittiness of the real world, and sticking it to The Man, which are all tenets of heavy metal music. But Maiden fans are a different breed - more intense, passionate, loyal, and intellectual, which the band seems to attract and foster.
Overall, from the perspective of a die-hard fan from the early 80's, it's not a very good film, and it doesn't offer much other than a rush of nostalgia. However, it does feature some bits and clips that I'd never seen or heard before, which was a nice surprise. It also evoked a strong emotional response at times and choked me up towards the end with "Rock In Rio's" (2002) powerful rendition of "Blood Brothers," Bruce Dickinson's throat cancer, and Nicko McBrain's heartbreaking departure. The film definitely has a sense of finality and closure to it, despite the fact that the band is still touring and I'm going to see them later this year.
Since I saw it in the theater, I was pleasantly surprised to see the show nearly sold out, and the crowd was exactly what I expected. A bunch of old, fat white guys with gray hair and canes made up 90% of the audience which is embarrassingly my peer group. I actually felt like one of the younger ones there, which was a bit shocking, but my self-image is obviously biased. It was nice to see a few women there as well as a handful of younger people, who were obviously there with their parents. So the bottom line is, if you're an Iron Maiden fan and want to reminisce, or if you're just curious about the band, it's a no-brainer. But if you want an actual documentary about the band, "12 Wasted Years" (1987) and "The Number Of The Beast" (2001) are still the best, and if you want to see them perform, "Live After Death" is still one of the finest live concert movies ever made by ANY band.