Watch or not: Is Metal Lords worth watching?

A somewhat dark, coming-of-age feature film from director Peter Sollett, Metal Lords does not possess the same charms as the similarly musically-inclined film Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, also from Sollett. Marred by clunky, cringe-worthy dialogue and strange creative decisions, Metal Lords doesn’t make the most of its charming ensemble of young actors, particularly when it comes to Adrian Greensmith, who is a cast standout.

The movie centers on teenage outcasts and best friends Kevin (Jaeden Martell) and Hunter (Adrian Greensmith), members of a two-man band (“like White Stripes” is a running joke) searching for their third member in the hopes of creating an awesome death metal group to compete at Battle of the Bands. Hunter is a diehard fan of the musical genre as it offered him refuge amid his most angst-ridden years. He doesn’t get along with his father (Bret Gelman), who left his mom and regularly dates women far too young for him.

Metal Lords film review

For Hunter, his house of worship is a room laden with posters of bands like Black Sabbath and Metallica. Kevin enjoys the genre too, though more by extension of Hunter. While he’s a fan, he’s more into it because of his friend and is more open-minded when it comes to the genre and other styles of music, too. It’s Kevin who actively seeks out Emily (Isis Hainsworth), the talented cellist with anger management issues when she doesn’t take her medication, hoping she’ll become their third member—and maybe even his girlfriend. But Hunter has trouble reconciling how a cello will mesh with their sound.

One of the main issues with Metal Lords is the character of Hunter, which is unfortunate since Greensmith is excellent here and shows great promise (Metal Lords is one of his first films). Hunter’s passion is palpable, accurately attuned to the angst and anxiety that come with being a teenager, especially one struggling with a lot of internalized anger. It’s too bad he’s not all that likable as a character. Hunter is broody and snarky to a fault. Despite frequently becoming the victim of bullying, Hunter isn’t very nice to anyone, not even his friends.

Metal Lords tries to be a mash-up of films like Superbad and School of Rock, but it’s not funny or clever enough to reach either of those movies. It never overcomes the outdated stereotypes and generalizations made by this script. It feels like it was written for another era.

The main conflict of the film revolves around Kevin and Hunter’s friendship. Hunter rejects Kevin’s plea to let Emily join the band, leading Kevin to toil with the idea of joining their competitor, Mollycoddle.

Metal Lords doesn’t feel all that complete. The conflicts are short-lived, and when so many characters are derived from basic high school archetypes, it’s hard to find anyone worth rooting for. I couldn’t see any reason for Kevin to actively want to be friends with Hunter, who treats him terribly throughout the movie, whereas their rival Clay (Noah Urrea) is shown to be courteous and respectful of Kevin and his interests. The character characterizations don’t really ring true with their actions, and the entire third act feels rushed.

There’s also Kevin himself, who almost hooks up with another girl not long after Emily and needs visions of rock star cameos to tell him that it’s wrong. After that, the almost-dalliance is never really addressed. It’s like things happen to these characters, but they don’t really reckon with them. Everything that develops happens rapidly and internally in a way that the audience doesn’t get to see.

Hunter’s sudden change of heart rings false, as do many of the other big moments that are meant to feel impactful because the movie simply doesn’t take the time to develop the characters behind generalizations.

I also want to briefly address mental illness because this movie tries to deal with it regarding Hunter and Emily but falls short in both regards. The stuff with Hunter and his dad is actually really tragic, and it just gets glossed over with Hunter being tossed in and then broken out of rehab as easily as if he was spending the night at a church retreat. It’s a weird storyline that doesn’t get the weight it needs to be poignant, and that’s without touching on the random Netflix promo for their show Baking Impossible.

Is Metal Lords worth watching?

Overall, I’m going to say no. I don’t think there is a pressing need to watch Metal Lords this weekend. But I’m almost 30, so this movie might be far more appealing to teenagers (then again, it was written by a 50-year-old man, so who knows?).

I might have liked it more if I felt a stronger kinship with the teens, and I don’t like flat-out telling people to skip movies since everyone should form their own opinion! But if you asked me straight-up, I’d say you can avoid this one as there is better content on Netflix and better musically-focused coming-of-age movies available (though this one does get points for originality by narrowing in on metal, specifically).

That said, those who like metal music and are drawn to the characters might find themselves reflected in Hunter, Emily and Kevin. There is something grounded and realistic about them that might work for some viewers, especially in light of the more hyper-stylizied teen-centric content we’ve been getting lately. It’s an easy watch that does hit on many of the plot beats we’ve come to expect from coming-of-age stories, even if it doesn’t necessarily add anything new to the genre.

It’s unfortunate because Metal Lords could have been a great movie. I think the biggest problem here is the script, particularly when it comes to the humor, which really falls flat throughout the movie with outdated jokes and references. The laughs are few and far between, but at least Metal Lords has a relatively short 97-minute runtime, so it’s a quick watch. It’ll be interesting to see if people who are genuine fans of death metal tune in to this movie and see what they think of it.

Watch Metal Lords on Netflix.