Metal Lords is a teen dramedy about Kevin(Jaeden Martell) an outcast who gets into drumming and metal music because of his more confident but more volatile fellow outcast friend Hunter(Adrian Greensmith). The music, both playing it and what it means, starts to click with Kevin after he meets and develops a relationship with fellow classmate and musician Emily(Isis Hainsworth).
Martell gives a remarkably grounded and open performance, much more assured and open then his(good but not great) turns in It and Knives Out. Hainsworth is, quite stunningly, equally assured if not more so, giving her character not only charm and authenticity but a commitment and dimension to the characters mental health diagnosis belies her age. Greensmith is the newcomer of the three as far as acting but, seemingly, the only real musician is good but his angst doesn't transcend much beyond the superficial. They all have great chemistry, an easy familiarity yet ingrained self consciousness that is very real for that age, Martell and Hainsworth are particularly magnetic together. The supporting cast has two good turns by Joe Manganiello and Sufe Bradshaw and the rest are all decent across the board but the scope is relatively small and as a result, outside the core trio, none have much dimension.
The movie clearly is much inspired by School Of Rock take out the mentor, bump the kids up to high school, subtract a couple band members, and you have Metal Lords. But what School Of Rock has that Metal Lords lacks is a bit of exuberance and a bit of heart. The movie has some really lovely scenes, conveys some truths about growing up and relationships and what that looks like now. But it holds back, takes a couple short cuts, and as a result is somewhat lessor than the sum of its parts.
Fun, engaging, with two terrific leads and one good one, but like much of Netflix's middle-of-the-road cinema offerings somewhat lean.
Currently streaming on Netflix.
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