Lemmy poster
Lemmy Kilmister is the lead singer of Motorhead, he was in a band called Hawkwind and now there's a film about him. Famed for being one of the greatest metal singers of all time and also living the rock and roll lifestyle to its fullest degree. Lemmy drinks a bottle of Jack Daniels every day and has done since he was thirty years old.
The documentary follows Lemmy from personal life and to his concerts, detailing his interest in military memorabilia, his relationship with his son, his obsession with videogames, slot machines and his days with psychedelic space rock band Hawkwind. It's a genuinely interesting documentary, but as a feature-length documentary, it doesn't quite have that great a story.
Lemmy provides a decent heavy metal backdrop, he has all the stories, from bedding over a 1000 women to outdrinking every rockstar he has come across, but there's really no crux to the story. Some Kind Of Monster followed Metallica (who appear in this documentary along with Dave Grohl, Ozzy Osbourne and a number of others) as they were on the brink of breaking up, they were looking for a new bassist, re-assessing their lives and generally on the edge. Anvil: The Story Of Anvil was the story of a band who were at the top and then disappeared into obscurity. Lemmy Kilmister was in a relatively successful band and then in a very successful band, who provided the world with one of the greatest metal songs that there has ever been, but ultimately, there's nothing the story is leading to or leading from. The closest the story can come to is that no one knows how he's still alive, you can only presume they wanted to make a documentary before his body finally gave up.
Despite being mainly redundant as a rock documentary, there's only so many times that you need to hear people say that "Lemmy invented metal" and "Motorhead are so unique". That said, it's when talking about Lemmy's loves that the documentary really finds itself. Lemmy can be found in the same bar most of the time, and is usually playing on the arcade game, he has a fondness for slot machines as well. The questioning isn't incredibly probing, Lemmy collects Nazi memorabilia, including wearing a Nazi outfit, but he just likes the look of it, rather than following the beliefs.
This is a film more for fans of rock music and for Lemmy himself, than anything else. There's an assumption of recognisation for a lot of the bands who appear, names are provided, but the slightly less high profile ones may still need a quick googling. If you like your rock music and you like Motorhead, then you're in for a treat, if not, prepare for a limited enjoyment.
FemaleFirst - James Butlin
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