Mark Reviews Movies: METAL LORDS

Metal Lords, Netflix

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | April 7, 2022

Being different can be hard in life and in high school, especially, but it doesn't have to be. That's the message of Metal Lords, an amusing comedy about a couple of weirdos—using the term in the nicest sense possible—trying to form a band. More importantly, it's also a sweetly sincere story about the troubles of being an outsider and the joy of finding one's place in that status.

D.B. Weiss' screenplay throws us right into the setup, introducing Kevin (Jaeden Martell), a nerdy kid without any real place or clique in high school, and his best friend Hunter (Adrian Greensmith), an angry, teenaged child of divorce who has put his entire identity into his love of heavy metal music. Hunter, a skilled guitarist, wants to start a metal band of his own, and obviously, Kevin is going to be part of it.

He plays the drums—well, a drum in marching band, which is his clever way of getting out of physical education. With a whole kit, Kevin is scrambling to hit skins and can't maintain a beat. As for his knowledge of heavy metal, the best he can deduce is his knowledge of a jukebox rock musical, so an irritated Hunter gives his best friend some homework, starting with Black Sabbath and going on from there.

It's simple and to-the-point, and there's a real sense of both adoration for the music and appreciation for the reality that music is work, too. Kevin, getting a big and intimidating drum set from Hunter (and a credit card stolen from the friend's dad, played by Brett Gelman), starts listening to those songs, spends hours in a rehearsal home at school, and just keeps practicing and playing in an easy, clean, and rather invigorating montage from director Peter Sollett.

The sequence works on multiple levels—showing Kevin's progression and growing affection for the music, as well as giving us a chance to appreciate the amount of time and dedication required for this. It's just an energetic sequence, too, in the flow of the music and images of Kevin working his way through the tune. By the way, Martell appears to playing the drums for real, just as Greensmith seems to be strumming and shredding on the guitar, and that's something—either the actors' talent or the filmmakers' ability to trick us.

Anyway, the plot is fairly routine, as Hunter learns that the annual battle of the bands has returned to their town and decides that this is his chance to prove themselves to be the legend he imagines himself to be (There's a funny scene with the school's dean, played by Sufe Bradshaw, in which the teen tries to act out a clichéd confrontation with an authority figure, but she's more than accommodating). Now, the two friends just need a bass player to complete the lineup. Kevin, though, has a different idea: He wants to recruit Emily (Isis Hainsworth), an especially talented cellist, who also and quickly becomes his girlfriend after Kevin introduces her to Hunter's list of songs.

She is an outsider, too, for reasons that Weiss' screenplay somewhat fumbles in primarily making Emily a love interest for Kevin and a source of conflict for the insecure Hunter. The girl has mental health issues, specifically depression, and that condition is played either for laughs (her introductory scene, in which she yells at the band coach and launches clarinet like a javelin) or for some discomforting sentimentality (She takes "happy pills," and after falling for Kevin, Emily pronounces that the boy is now her "happy pill"). There's clearly more to this character beyond her role in the lives of these two guys, and while Hainsworth's performance provides some hints of that struggle, it's undeniably undermined by the same level of simplification that otherwise works in the plot's favor.

Kevin and Hunter, at least, have more to them, with the former wanting to experience new things and the latter staying stuck an angry lack of confidence in himself, and their friendship. Kevin starts to find a real love for music and the drums, branching out to play different music and potentially make new friends with a rival band that genuinely appreciates him and his talent. Meanwhile, Hunter takes even the suggestion of that as a personal slight, and as for his supposed best friend's romance with Emily, he takes that perceived betrayal as a justification for public cruelty.

That relationship works—and quite well—because it feels authentic, in how this shared insecurity brings the two friends together, and honest, in how bond founded upon insecurity can only be destructive in the long run. Kevin realizes that through his new hobby and Emily, but Hunter seems trapped in himself—until he gets a wakeup call from a local hero, played by Joe Manganiello, who was kind of in the kid's place once, had to do a lot of waking up himself, and now devotes himself to thinking of others. It's quite simple and blatantly to-the-point, yes, but Weiss and Sollett do their own work here, establishing these characters and developing this relationship.

They also tell an enjoyable story, with some character-based comedy and plenty of solid music (both on the soundtrack and in performances), along the way. Metal Lords is smart in portraying that music is hard work, but so, too, is finding one's place with the right people and for the right reasons.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products