Film Review: Metal Lords

Director: Peter Sollett
Starring: Jaeden Martell, Isis Hainsworth, Adrian Greensmith
Running time: 138 minutes

Okay, I’ll admit it – going into this film, my hopes were not all that high. From the synopsis alone I just got rip-off School of Rock vibes, and if you have any sense at all, you’ll know that nothing can compare to the artistry of School of Rock. But, I have to say this coming-of-age film was not nearly as bad as I anticipated, despite the general premise of the film being about the rise and fall of a bunch of music-obsessed American high schoolers. In fact, I really enjoyed it.

We’re quickly introduced to the two leading characters, polar opposite best friends, Kevin and Hunter. Kevin (Jaeden Martell) is a dorky, introverted, glasses-wearing teen who plays the drum (singular) in the school marching band just to get out of PE, and Hunter (Adrian Greensmith) is the over-confident, egotistical, long-haired metalhead who probably knows more about Black Sabbath than anyone else on the planet.

When Hunter finds out about the upcoming school talent competition, “Battle of the Bands” (classic), he persuades Kevin, with his very limited drumming knowledge, to join his post-death metal band, “Skullfucker”. He fantasises about winning the competition and being worshipped like gods by their peers. 

The film itself is a real lighthearted, feel-good twist on your run-of-the-mill American high school movie. Think School of Rock meets Freaky Friday (the Lindary Lohan one, obvs). It felt a little slow to start off with but it does pick up. There was, however, one particularly weird moment that just didn’t feel like it fit with the plot at all.

To sum it up briefly, Kevin befriends fellow high school student Emily, the fiery, Scottish cello player, who’s very open about her mental health struggles. They quickly develop a bond over music and joining the marching band to avoid PE, which results in a very weird phone call conversation about them both being virgins and how they should meet up to *ahem* resolve that issue (?!).

I’m not going to mince my words here when I say it was diabolically cringeworthy and made me want to rinse my eyes and ears out with soap and delete Netflix forever. In retrospect, when their relationship was in its infancy, the awkwardness was oddly realistic. I mean we’ve all had embarrassing crushes and encounters that we’d rather forget, right? There was absolutely no need for them to have sex in the back of a van, though.

Aside from that, I really admired the overall character development, especially Hunter. He’s a weirdly likeable character despite the fact that he’s not really meant to be liked until his redemption arc towards the end of the movie. Despite being incredibly egotistical and, as often described by his peers as, “a massive dick”, he’s incredibly charming and naturally funny without trying to be, making for a really entertaining watch. It’s that classic “bad guy goes on a journey of self-discovery and learns the importance of being a good guy” trope, which, let’s be honest, has been beaten to death and beyond at this point, but it’s nice to see it done from a different, heavy metal-infused perspective. 

The film features some badass metal songs, and I would have expected nothing less with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello as executive music producer. He even makes a cameo midway through. Overall, I had a really fun time watching this film. The fact that it’s not overwhelmingly focused on heavy metal makes it accessible to pretty much anyone looking for something to watch that’s easy going and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Rock on.

Did you know? In addition to Tom Morello, metal icons Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Rob Halford (Judas Priest) all make cameo appearances in the film.

Metal Lords is now available on Netflix