What happens when you put three innovative guitarists of varying genres in one room and then film the result? Well, “It Might Get Loud.” It might also get boring if the film lacks any real direction. Luckily, this documentary hits almost all the right notes, successfully straddling the thin line between informative and entertaining.
What makes this film work is director Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”). Then again, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be up to the challenge. The man won an Academy Award for making global warming and Al Gore captivating. In comparison, it really can’t be all that difficult to make three beloved rock stars appealing to audiences. Regardless, Guggenheim turns what could have been a drawn-out jam session into a compelling work of art about the history of the electric guitar and the careers and styles of three men who know how to rock.
If the names Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White don’t immediately ring a bell, their band names most certainly will. For two years, Page strummed along with The Yardbirds, but most know him as the lead guitarist for the legendary English rock band Led Zeppelin. The Edge is the roaring sound behind Bono’s cascading vocals for a little rock band out of Dublin that goes by the name of U2. The baby of the trio, White, rocked the underground of Detroit before hitting it big with The White Stripes, and later, The Raconteurs.
Although this documentary will undoubtedly get guitar junkies amped up, Guggenheim has created a movie devoid of technical jargon that any music lover will enjoy, regardless of whether you know the difference between a capo and a cockatoo. He does this by expertly pulling together concert footage, long-forgotten videos and personal interviews to produce a film that is just as much about the story behind the men who make the music as it is the music itself.
Guggenheim dives into each of the three guitarists’ pasts in a semi-linear fashion, starting with each artist’s upbringings. This historical trip features some rather amusing early videos, including a 13-year-old Page as a member of a skiffle — a popular English genre of the time with jazz, blues, folk and country influence — quartet and a pre-U2 performance with The Edge and Bono in flashy leotards.
The best sections of the documentary, though, are the personal interviews, because they offer insight into how Page, The Edge and White honed their craft and found inspiration for their songs. The film follows Page as he walks through Zeppelin’s old recording studio and explains the necessity behind mastering the double-necked guitar for songs like “Stairway to Heaven.”
We learn where U2 found the inspiration for songs like “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and how The Edge’s extensive use of delay effects helped define the band’s signature sound — you will be astounded how mundane the chords sound when The Edge demonstrates what it’s like with these effects turned off.
While White may originally seem like the odd man out in this group, this film affirms his status as musical whiz kid. From showing his younger years as an upholsterer by day and rock star by night to his innovative work with The White Stripes, Guggenheim makes it clear White knows guitars inside and out — White opens the movie by creating a guitar out of a Coke bottle, plank of wood and a string.
Yet, as is the case with any documentary, the film is only as entertaining as its subjects. For this reason, the movie drags at times due to the laidback, rather introverted personalities of the film’s three artists. The interviews are intriguing if the topic is, but when it isn’t, they’re a real snooze. This is particularly the case when the three get together for the group interview sessions. These scenes don’t have any real substance and lack the exciting conversation you would expect to hear between three storied artists. However, as soon as they start letting their instruments do the talking, the film kicks back up to entertainment overdrive.
In the end, the fact that Guggenheim was able to get Page, The Edge and White — ranked No. 9, No. 24 and No. 17, respectively, in “The Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” — together in a film is one thing, but the fact that “It Might Get Loud” rocks from both a musical and cinematographic aspect is a real achievement we can all enjoy.
4 stars out of 5.
