Some Kind of Monster

In a couple weeks I am going to my second ever Metallica concert! Last time they were in my region in 2004 for the St. Anger tour Lars mentioned it was seven years prior to that they were here last for the Re-Load tour in 1997 and that they promise they will not take that long to come back. Do the math and it is apparent that Lars was doubly wrong as it wound up being 14 years for the iconic band to return. Last few weeks Metallica has received more playtime in my rotation than normal to get amped up for the show, and it seemed like the perfect time to pull their 2004 documentary, Some Kind of Monster (trailer) out of the backlog box.

I have a confession to make. I got a lot of grief for this over the years and I know this will hurt my status as a Metallica fan, but I absolutely dug St. Anger. Snare drums forever!!! Kidding aside, for some reason the album clicked with me. I was likely one of the few in the Fargodome losing it when Metallica busted out St. Anger and Frantic. Part of the reason for that was because I was kind of a late bloomer for getting into Metallica. Until several months before the show, their only albums I owned (and also was a huge fan of) was their self-titled ‘Black’ album and St. Anger. I was casually familiar with a few of their other radio hits. A friend going to the show with me burnt me a couple discs of his favorite Metallica songs and in those several months leading up to the show was when I familiarized myself with their earlier discography and got really into their music.

Some Kind of Monster is a chronicling of the two-year journey it took to compose St. Anger. Suffice it to say, if you are not a fan of that record and cannot separate your feelings for that one album, and especially not a fan of general ‘band drama’ where the artists bicker over their pasts and dispute how songs take shape then this documentary is a definitive hard pass.

The opening act of the feature is the band coming together a few months after Jason Newstead left in 2001. Seeing early takes on the eventual songs that made it into St. Anger was fascinating. Tensions are still at a high for the band in the early part of this journey as they are coming to terms with Jason leaving and are emerging from the aftermath of the fan backlash from Lars’ huge legal fight with Napster. The tension reaches such levels that James takes nearly a year off from the band to recover from his alcoholism and reconnect with his family.

There are many highlights of Metallica’s weekly therapy sessions with Dr. Phil Towle. Towle is an interesting character, who has some of the therapist stereotypes, but not nearly as pronounced and is kind of affable in his attempts to maintain band unity, and I was sympathetic for him on the scene where Metallica decided it was time to cut him loose. I will give Towle credit for never snapping and keeping his cool (at least from what was shown) at the band’s constant griping shown throughout and he seemed to be earning his $40,000 a month Metallica revealed they were paying him.

The filmmakers had some interesting ways to fill time while James was away by having a couple scenes with former band members Dave Mustaine and Jason Newsted. They showed Dave coming in and chatting with Kirk and Lars and later the band minus James checking out Newsted’s first gig with his new band, Echobrain. Eventually Hetfield returns to the band and it was truly intriguing to see him reconcile with the band and them continue to work out their differences with the help of Towle. It is worth noting that the bulk of the band discourse in the film is between Lars and James with Lars especially going on several significant diatribes throughout in his unique tone that is a gold mine for impressionists around the world. Speaking of Lars, another scene that stood out to me is the scene with Lars talking deep about art when selling off his artwork collection and enjoying cocktails at the auction for it as my jaw dropped when I saw at least a few of the pieces go for well over a million. I would also be remiss if I did not point out that Lars reminds me of Brad Pitt in Oceans 11-13 since he is constantly chomping and snacking away on something in nearly every other scene he appears in.

I recalled seeing brief excerpts of Some Kind of Monster on cable one time many years ago, and those were the scenes with the band searching for a new bassist and eventually hiring Ozzy Osbourne bassist Robert Trujillo. Robert’s audition was showcased and his scene where Metallica tells him he is in the band is one of the movie’s standout scenes. Robert does not join the band until late in the documentary, and is only seen in the last act which is a shame since he brings such a charismatic presence to the band and it is apparent he is a much-needed uplifting force for James, Kirk and Lars.

With the band fully formed, the documentary highlights the closing steps on finishing off the record and Metallica performing their first gig on the tour to promote St. Anger. There are a ton of extras in this two-disc set. There are two commentary tracks. One is with Metallica and the other with the two primary filmmakers: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. I bounced back and forth between them on my second viewing of the film. Metallica is more subdued throughout their track, but they occasionally have notable thoughts on past concerts and the scenes where Mustaine and Newstead are in. The filmmakers have more nonstop commentary that is the perfect supplement to the film.

On the second disc there are three categories of bonus features combining for nearly three hours of extras. First is 28 deleted scenes totaling around 90 minutes. Not all the scenes are must-see, but at least half of them I found myself wishing made it in like Kirk in driver’s school for a traffic ticket, Lars jealous of not being informed of the band throwing a surprise birthday party for Kirk, Ja Rule throwing down with Metallica and Robert reflecting in the middle of a snowboarding session on how he broke the news to Ozzy he was leaving them for Metallica. There is a ‘Festivals & Premieres’ section of extras with film festival press conferences and Q&A session clips collected for roughly 40 minutes. There are at least a couple interesting responses in each presser, with Lars standing out in particular in one where Lars did not back down and stood his ground when a fan was calling him out to apologize to Napster. Finally, there is ‘This Monster Lives’ which is an assortment of band debates and therapy sessions. The band discussing and eventually agreeing to play at a Raiders game popped out the most to me and watching Metallica jam out at the stadium was a pleasing sight to take in.

I have owned Some Kind of Monster for nearly a decade and have been kicking myself to watch it for a great while now. I think what kept me from it was the universal hate for St. Anger and occasionally hearing a random snippet of a podcast rip on the documentary. As I stated above, I am a big fan St. Anger so I was fully invested in this film throughout. Only takeaway is that the melodramatic ‘band drama’ moments in here are nonstop throughout the feature and I can see how they could easily be a turn off. We are 15 years removed the album’s release so I recommend to put your personal feelings of that one album aside and take in this engrossing time capsule of a tumultuous period for Metallica that saw the band overcome their differences to make one of their most polarizing albums yet.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

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12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed
Deck the Halls
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Dirty Work
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Indiana Jones 1-4
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Marine 3-5
Mortal Kombat
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Days of Future Past