Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)
Radial Media, Third Eye

Description

Featuring the most successful heavy metal band of all time, METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER offers a revealing and exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the legendary band as they confront personal demons and their relationships with each other while recording their Grammy-winning album, St. Anger.

Collected reviews and ratings

10 Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

What might have been a glorified MTV special, at least had the recording sessions gone more smoothly, turns out instead to be a headbanger's ''Let It Be.'' An unprecedented caught-on-the-fly look at the creative fire, arduous labor, and thorny power dynamics that drive a veteran band, ''Some Kind of Monster'' is one of the most revelatory rock portraits ever made.
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10 DVD Talk | Bill Gribon

Throughout the course of Some Kind of Monster, we witness a bunch of men combating the cruelest aspects of the cult of personality. And the result is something both terrifying and timeless. Berlinger and Sinofsky have made some kind of epic.
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10 Old School Reviews | John Nesbit

This is the best film I saw at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and it ranks among the very best rock music documentaries ever produced.
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9.5 DVD Verdict | Patrick Bromley

Who could have guessed that such an unusual combination of elements - creativity, addiction, heavy metal, and psychotherapy - could produce one of the best films of 2004?
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8.8 The Documentary Blog

Some Kind of Monster is a more successful psychological analysis of the band than the one they were paying the shrink for. Best documentary of the year to date, and one of the years best films, period.
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8.0 Empire

An excruciating watch at times, the unflinching bluntness is captivating and somehow, despite their flaws, the group’s rock godhood is maintained.
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8.0 FutureMovies | Adrian Mackinder

Overall this is possibly the most painfully honest rockumentary ever made and credit must go to the bravery of the band for allowing the cameras to continue rolling as egos collide and emotions are stripped bare.
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8.0 DVD File | Mike Restaino

A great film - and this writer's choice for Best Documentary of 2004 - Some Kind of Monster is the kind of movie that will greatly expand its audience on DVD, and rightfully so: It kicks ass.
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8.0 filmcritic.com | Nicholas Schager

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster is a full-blown opera of metallic drama, passion, and misery. Filled with the torment and rage that fuels the band’s finest work, it’s a piercing vision of an iconic band teetering on the brink of collapse.
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8.0 New York Times | A.O. Scott

At first the idea of a rock band in therapy sounds unlikely, if not downright comical, like ''This Is Spinal Tap'' with a screenplay by Janet Malcolm. And hearing James Hetfield, Metallica's ferocious, sometimes fearsome lead singer, talking about his feelings with Lars Ulrich, the band's baby-faced drummer, can be a little jarring
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8.0 DVD Town | Hock Guan Teh

"Some Kind of Monster" is an eye-opening documentary that goes deep into the psyche of a very successful heavy metal band as they try to cope with fame and all the pressures that come with the territory.
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8.0 The Independent | Liese Spencer

Watching self-obsessed, fortysomething rock millionaires bitch and moan has rarely been so entertaining.
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7.5 Rolling Stone | Will Dana

This absorbing, weirdly voyeuristic documentary follows the endlessly protracted, issue-laden recording of Metallica's most recent album, St. Anger.
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7.5 Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

If "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" has a message, it's great being a rock god up to a point, but most rock gods play the role long after it's much fun.
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7.0 Amazon user reviews

Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky spent two years with Metallica as the band survived the defection of long-time bassist Jason Newsted, struggled to record St. Anger, and recruited $40,000-per-month "performance enhancement coach" Phil Towle to counsel members James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett as they confronted alcoholism, creative obstacles, and themselves in an effort to determine the viability of Metallica's future.
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7.0 PopMatters.com | Cynthi Fuchs

More than anything, the film is, perversely and brilliantly, about itself, about self-analysis and performing selves.
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5.0 Slant Magazine | Ed Gonzales

Some Kind of Monster isn't so such a "rock n' roll movie" as much as it is two hours of couple's therapy.
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3.5 IGN.com | Spence D

Berlinger and Sinofsky have delivered a bizarre documentary that confounds expectations, confuses the lines between what a rock documentary should and shouldn't be, and presents a larger-than-life band in a way that is unflinchingly real, never shying away from showing the band in a less-than-flattering light.
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