Review: Wah-ooooooo! Steel Dragon! Whoooooooooooo!
Whoa! Slipped ahead of myself for just a moment. Let's go back, back to the mythical 80's where long hair, eyeliner and black leather lived in harmony with lumberjackets, Iron Maiden Jean Jackets and maybe, just maybe, people were the better for it. Or music was anyway.

That's how it is for Chris "Izzy" Coles. He is the lead singer of Blood Pollution, a Steel Dragon tribute band (not a cover band!). So obsessed and (fortunately) talented is he that when Steel Dragon decides to replace their lead singer, he happens to be their choice. This occurs thanks to two rock skanks who sleep with the band and pass over their amateur video to the band. Something about the demented loyalty of the rock skank touched me greatly there.

The first half hour of this film is such a tongue-in-cheek joy that it is a little sad when the rest of the movie takes over and sort of limps its way into the 90's.

Wahlberg is bang-on as Chris/Izzy 'the wanna-be that got to be' (according to the studio posters) but the flipping back and forth from cheerful comedy to oh-so-sad drama makes this film run unevenly. This film hauls out every cliche one would expect from a film about metal-heads but never goes beyond that.

Another odd point is that one of Chris' big problems is that he feels his songs are foolish, not worth performing or pushing out to an audience, hence his forming a tribute band. However, later in the movie, he brandishes a tape and claims to have been working like a dog for the new album. Not once do we have a sense of the strain and effort of this decision so inevitably this about face rings false.

However, in director Stephen Herek's favour, not once did he sell-out in terms of the lifestyle of a so-called Metal-God. Plenty of sex, drugs and rock and roll are up there on the big screen which usually is hinted at and happens behind closed doors so as to get that ever precious PG rating. Bah! PG ratings!

As was mentioned before, great performance by Wahlberg, a man who keeps quietly churning out hits and does it without being a jerk in the press about it (so far, fingers crossed). Timothy Olyphant, a lesser role but as with Go, steals a small piece of the screen for himself. However, the other major headliner in this film, Jennifer Aniston, seems a little out of place, slightly miscast in this film. Not to pick on Miss Aniston but this is a critique and therefore...she seems as if she just came off the set of Friends and felt that was enough of a performance for the film.

Finally, one last compliment. The soundtrack. Both perfect for the film and just some great 80's nostalgia to bang your head to.

In the end, not a great movie but at least, after the summer of 2001, not a film I felt ripped off for paying to see.

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Copyright© Written By: Rob Paul
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