Metal Lords: So much heart!

Movie Review: Metal Lords (2022) on Netflix

Charming tale of two high schoolers with minimal band skills who try to whip together a heavy metal band in time for the school Battle of the Bands on a dare. All they need for the big day is a bass guitarist, but their one good choice is a girl with major mental health problems who doesn't take her meds regularly. There are lots of conflicts with the "cool" kids in school, not to mention unsupportive parents and the band's leader, who has a massive chip on his shoulder. There are a ton great scenes of the kids practicing their music to learn what they consider the classics of heavy metal and what are the misfits of school becoming close friends and a force of misunderstood music. But I was most impressed with the actors taking on these huge character rolls.

Massive kudos to the young actors (Jaeden Martell, Adrian Greensmith, Isis Hainsworth) who apparently can actually play instruments or fake it really well, and the bass cellist has many young Judy Garland and Liv Tyler screen moments in this film (watch her eyes!). And Greensmith performs a monster soliloquy moment during speech class comparing heavy metal to Ulysses and other literature classics in a bid to win over fellow students to liking the musical genre, then suddenly turns on Hainsworth in a fit of anger for trying to steal his best friend, Martell—all full of passion. 

WARNING: These kids are often soft spoken and you might be tempted to turn the sound up, then find yourself rushing to grab for the remote when the next moment you need to turn it down again for the full-on musical jams. We settled for sound down and closed captions for dialogue.

Also contains mucho adult language, but this film mostly has mucho heart! Rate this film A++ for Audacious, dude!