Movie, 2022

Fairly fresh, contemporary take on the outsiders-making-good, coming of age film, with all the tropes dressed up, the unlikely jumps smoothed over and the whole thing given a heavy metal theme. While this might all sound hugely unpromising, this is a hard film to totally dismiss or dislike – while there’s no mistaking the baddies as baddies, the goodies have a little nuance and subtlety about them, which carries the film. Some fairly neat cameos from heavy metal musicians also help things pop here and there, so for every dumb plot jump and weird accent, there’s a nod to something a little more interesting. Fairly niche stuff, though the themes are pretty universal and film not at all bad.