Metal Lords Movie Review: It’s a low-key, low-impact teen comedy from Game of Thrones writers and producers

Story: Teenage high school buddies Hunter and Kevin form a heavy metal band and want to win the Battle of the Bands to become recognized and popular. Finding a third bandmate becomes difficult even as Hunter’s erratic and angry behavior makes him enemies, eventually causing a fallout with his friend, Kevin. Reconciliation means making metal for both of them.Review: ‘Metal Lords’ gets the purity and passion of heavy metal mostly right, but falls short of delivering actual comedy throughout the film. Jaeden Martell and Adrian Greensmith play classic awkward teenagers trying to conceal their discomfort by making a heavy metal band in this DB Weiss (co-creator of ‘Game of Thrones’) scripted film. It packs no surprises, moving forward with oft-repeated tropes of high school drama, which, while apt for the lives of its protagonists, makes the story feel predictable.Hunter (Adrian Greensmith) is dealing with his mother abandoning him and his philandering plastic surgeon father by turning to heavy metal. He worships at the temple of Judas Priest, Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Black Sabbath, and the classic heavy metal bands of the past. He includes his only friend, Kevin (Jaeden Smith) to form a heavy metal band that will compete at the upcoming Battle of the Bands competition. But Hunter has become acidic, unfriendly, and generally unpleasant towards most kids, often getting bullied by the local school menace, and finding it impossible to get a bass player (something any ‘real’ metal band needs). For the most part, Kevin tries to keep calm and bring sanity to Hunter’s over-the-top, hyper reactions, while going through his friend’s list of metal classics on a set of drums by himself. Noticing a Scottish- American fellow misfit at a marching band outburst, Kevin befriends Emily, a cellist. He tries to enlist her into his band, which Hunter rejects for girls and cellists have no place in his band; and there on their friendship, and the band, Skullfucker, falls apart.Humour rarely pops up in this story, as its creators race through the concept of a specialist, aggressive, but a highly poetic form of music becoming cathartic for the film’s 3 lead characters. Hunter’s obnoxiousness rankles especially as the much more likable Kevin just takes it lying down for the most part. It is also not clear why Kevin has chosen this path of heavy metal and focused his energies on it. But the biggest shortcoming of an otherwise comfortable, buzzy watch is its airy approach to genuine teenage issues. Emily pops pills to control her anger, just a fleeting mention and a moment of crying; Hunter has anger management issues that lead to classroom violence and him being checked into a rehab of sorts, from which a rather easy and unconvincing escape happens. The violence in school corridors is just a dramatic tool in this story, papering over real consequences of such situations.But the writing by DB Weiss, along with director Peter Sollett holds authenticity and a commitment to telling a pure story about teenage angst and self-discovery. Moments like Emily and Kevin making love for the first time are poignant and touching, as is the final resolution of Hunter’s relationship with his father, Dr. Sylvester (Brett Gelman). In the second half, as a delightful cameo by real metal lords appear for Kevin, the film finally takes shape as a heartfelt story of misfits in a complex American high school culture getting their validation as metal heads at a stage performance. Winners aside, this spirited, energetic, and true-to-form act of performing to a bowled-over audience of fellow high schoolers is the film’s high point, throbbing, electric, and performed with genuine metal mania. Executive producers David Benioff and Greg Shapiro, also from ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’, are part of this film. And the score by Ramin Djawadi, composer of ‘Game of Thrones’, is nothing short of outstanding - encapsulating heavy metal classics that fuelled dreams and anger for generations.The film’s ultimate performance track, written by DB Weiss, is titled ‘Machinery of Torment’, aptly juvenile and half baked, laced with anger and emotion. This closing act manifests what the film is actually about - teenagers finding their groove in an unfriendly peer judgment-driven environment. ‘Metal Lords’ might not be perfect, but it is a breezy, pleasant watch that will take some back to their college and university years.