Movie Review: It Might Get Loud: Three Axe-Men Go on the Record About Their Craft

At this fall’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), producer Thomas Tull, an amateur musician, said he wanted to make the ultimate documentary about the electric guitar. He got in touch with director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) and set about making a wish-list of guitar players to capture on film. At the top of his list: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. Thanks to Guggenheim’s Oscar-winning cachet, the filmmakers got their wish.

The Process

Guggenheim started out with audio interviews, which are layered throughout the film over the visuals of the three men. He takes each of them back to old haunts: Page to the manor Led Zeppelin used as a recording studio, Edge to the school where he met the rest of U2, and White to his childhood through the use of “Young Jack,” a child of about 10 dressed up in White’s trademark porkpie hat and black-on-black ensemble. There’s lots of archival footage of wee James Page playing skiffle and early U2 in late-70s garb.

But the highlight is the jam session that closes the film, where the three get together and talk shop, learn from each other, and surprise the filmmakers by breaking out “The Weight” by The Band. There’s a gorgeous shot of White, watching Page play the riff from “Whole Lotta Love,” with an enormous grin on his face, like all his dreams have come true at once. And there’s a startling revelation during the jam session: Jimmy Page, Guitar God, can’t sing.

The Result

It Might Get Loud fails at its stated purpose: this is not the ultimate film about the electric guitar. Such a doc would have to include a) more people, b) more of a history of the instrument itself and c) more analysis as to the axe’s hold on the popular imagination. Of the three players featured, only White appears to be interested in making that kind of film. During the press conference at TIFF, he admitted he would rather talk about the mechanics of his guitar than his experiences growing up a rocker at a time when Detroit was awash in hip-hop.

The filmmakers’ wish-list is odd, as well. Thematically, it makes sense: Zeppelin loved the blues, U2 came out of punk, White’s music is an amalgam of both. But the inclusion of the Edge is a bit baffling: although he functions as U2’s lead guitarist, he’s really more of a rhythm player, and relies heavily on effects to get his signature sound. (In one scene, he actually plays a riff sounds without all the audio magic, and it sounds pretty lame.)

But none of this makes the film itself a failure. It’s a fascinating look at the life-long love affair between three supremely talented men and their music, and worth watching just to see that grin on Jack White’s face.

The copyright of the article Movie Review: It Might Get Loud in Documentary Films is owned by Deirdre Swain. Permission to republish Movie Review: It Might Get Loud in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Jan 23, 2009 9:35 PM

Guest :

I am a bit confused at the choice of guitar players,Jimmy Page is the most influential and brillant rock guitarist in rock history,his diversity and approach have spawned a life of there own and udoubtedly will be effecting musicians for as long as we as a culture listen to music, or ever aspire to play guitar, he is the Bach of our time. If of course we are after unique players to excite and close generation gaps ,how about Richie Blackmore,Eric Johnson,Yngwie Malmsteen,Michael Schenker,Angus Young.I could cover other geners but to say the least these guys can play .But at least they made a movie to honor musicians and perhaps It might get loud 2, will get closer to the mark.

Sep 13, 2009 9:19 PM

Guest :

Actually, the odd selection was Jack White. Page is a legend and the Edge is widely regarded as one of the most inventive and influential guitarists of the 80's and 90's. Both men will live on in rock encyclopedias. Jack's role in the film seems to be to serve as a foil to Edge (he and Edge are polar opposites in style and philosophy). Jack also fills a generation gap and serves as the contemporary voice. But you get the sense that Jack is still searching for his voice while the other two men have already found it and refined it over their well established careers.

Sep 15, 2009 10:59 AM

Deirdre Swain :

@ Guest #2: I don't disagree with your take on White; he was certainly there to provide a "new generation" voice, but since the film is quite open about that fact, I don't mind. And I think it's unfair to imply that he's the odd man out just because he isn't a legend yet - few people that young are, unless they're also dead.

And I also agree that the Edge is a Rock Star - capital R, capital S: he's globally known, hugely influential and richer than God. But he's not a technically proficient guitar player. He's just not. His effects are just that, effects, and the film has no hesitation in showing that fact. My feeling is, of all the guitarists to come out of the 80s, they choose him?

Don't get me wrong, I love U2, I'm seeing them live tomorrow. But the film was ostensibly about The Electric Guitar, not about musicians who are widely imitated. And the filmmakers chose a guy who plugs all his guitars into effects machines in order to get his signature sound. It just seemed weird, given the stated purpose of the film.