SXSW Review: ‘Iron Maiden: Flight of 666’

If you dont know who Iron Maiden is then obviously you have been living under a rock for the last 30 years because these guys have been ruling the metal scene for that long. When I heard that they would be doing a documentary that was set to premier at SXSW, I was more than stoked.

Stoked it how you could describe the first 15 minutes of this movie, but then it just falls flat. Not flat as it in gets boring, but flat because it is very repetitive. Essentially for every big city you see the band fly in, get ambushed by fans, try to get in some golf or tennis, rock the crowd’s faces off and then board the plane for the next city. All 2 hours of the movie this is what you see for pretty much every city they go to. The live performances are fantastic, and you sort of feel like you are there in moments but this doc is definitely made ONLY for hardcore Maiden fans.

Dont get me wrong, the documentary we watched was filmed really great, put together very solid but it just comes off as a fluff piece. There is essentially no conflict in the film, unless you consider one of the band members getting hit by a golf ball and there was 8 seconds you thought he wouldnt be performing the show that night. Outside of that there is nothing in the way of conflict/resolution. If i didnt know any better the film makers handed this over to the band and they decided what would go in and what wouldnt. Unless Iron Maiden are not metal at all in their old age and never show off their rockstar personas then there has to be some great footage on the cutting room floor.

If you are a fan of metal you should definitely check this movie out, even if it is for the first 15 minutes, then shut it off because you know what will happen throughout the flick.

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5