Review of It Might Get Loud (2008) by Kevin C — 02 Jan 2010

It was interesting enough for me, being a fan of both Led Zeppelin and U2, while also being at least familiar with the name Jack White. A lot of it actually feels too generic for me to really enjoy it, especially since the tidbits that Edge and Page shared were generally stuff that I'd already read about on my own. A lot of what you hear is stuff you can just read up on Wikipedia, provided by the devoted celebrity stalkers.

However there were still some interesting moments, where you have White piece together a makeshift slide guitar, Page actually visiting the house where Led Zeppelin IV was recorded, and Edge, well, messing around with his beloved effects units almost in a manner of self-parody, especially when he plays the two little notes behind the riff to U2's Elevation without the effects. The two initial jams that the three take part in aren't all that interesting, particularly the simple I Will Follow from Edge's U2. Musically there isn't anything to "jam" to there, although I guess the seemingly short length they gave it was appropriate. I personally thought the third jam to In My Time of Dying from Page's Led Zeppelin was interesting, certainly more than the previous ones. Everyone gets a chance to just blare away in the ways they like to. There are other random short interactions that were alright to actually see, including Page air-guitar-ing to an old record he listened to as a kid and, I don't know, Edge reminiscing to some old demo tapes.

But overall, I feel like this was a little too forced. There seems to be no chance that these three would have ever bothered taking the time to meet on any ordinary day if the movie never happened. At times I almost saw the three as victims of a Hollywood head honcho's interests, simply trying to make the best of being seemingly forced into the situation they're in.

Perhaps my expectations were too high, but it's really a hit or miss. It's okay, considering what the documentary was trying to do, which was break away from those with long and overarching narrations by one person edited together with interviews from the more knowledgeable.