Review of It Might Get Loud (2008) by François C — 09 Jan 2010

The film follows the progression of three generations of guitar players and locks them in a room together so that they can discuss their craft and play. Being a fan of all three musicians, I gotta say I really enjoyed this documentary. The trio features Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, The Edge of U2, and Jack White of the White Stripes. Each guitarist reflects on their own musical journeys, providing insight on their song writing and recording processes, and swap their stories of coming of age with the electric guitar.

The thing about It Might Get Loud is that it also gives the audience insights into each guitarists personality. The Edge plays just as you expect the Edge to play in this film. He spends a lot of his time traveling back to the school where U2 was formed and basically reminisces about the good old days of Irish bombings and Top of the Pops. He also shows us a rig that would make anyone except David Gilmour shudder with delight. Clearly he's the weakest technically of the three dudes, but nice rig anyways mate...

Jack White may be a great guitar player, but the story he wraps himself with seems almost convoluted and often cliched. He is obviously trying to create a legend for himself, but this pseudo marketing campaign he's on reads as almost pathetic at times. He likes vinyl. His favorite song of all time features some dude claping & singing only. He's trying a bit hard to be old school, and sometimes it doesn't come off as being genuine. Perhaps if he didn't do a duet with Alicia Keys on the last Bond movie I would think otherwise. Nonetheless, he's a hell of a guitarist.

Finally, you get Jimmy Page, who has a tone of history to go through and presents as the most down to earth of the three. This is surprising since Jimmy supposedly worshipped Satan in the 1970's. To say that Page has mellowed out over the years is a mild way of putting it. He sure as hell can play a guitar, even with powers bequeathed by the dark lord himself. He discusses being a session musician and Led Zeppelin (sadly, not much Yardbirds stuff). The most interesting part of the film is Page standing in the foyer of Hedley Grange, discussing how they recorded the DRUMS for When The Levee Breaks. Bonzo even gets a mention in a guitar doc.

When the film ends, you will wonder one thing: Why couldn't this whole thing have been about Jimmy Page?? He's not only the most down to earth guy in the room, but also the most interesting. Seeing Page play makes me even more pissed off at Robert Plant for choosing an Allison Krauss tour over Led Zeppelin!

Most of the jams seem ultimately underwhelming, and forced, particularly "The Weight", but nonetheless, It Might Get Loud is a must see for anyone who plays guitar or a fans of U2, The White Stripes, and Led Zeppelin.