August 11, 2008

Shine A Light attempts to capture the excitement and energy the Rolling Stones’ 2006 A Bigger Bang auditorium tour, interspersed with historic newsreels and documentary clips chronicling the 40-plus year careers of the aging rockers. And who better to put behind the wheel of such a grandiose project, as veteran filmmaker Martin Scorsese?

It would seem that given the legendary subject matter, the renowned filming crew, and a series of high-profile musical cameos from the likes of Jack White, Buddy Guy, and Christina Aguilera – Shine A Light should a be a slam dunk for best musical documentary of all time, right? Wrong.

While Shine A Light has all the ingredients to make it one of the sweetest musical packages to ever hit the big screen, it fails to gel into anything more than a shallow attempt to cash in on the Stones’ – more for nostalgic purposes than for any remaining talent the aging rockers might be clinging onto.

Filmmaking: 7
I am as much of a Martin Scorsese fan as anyone else, but Shine A Light comes across more as a half-hearted attempt to generate spare cash, than it is to make the art that Mr. Scorsese has become famous for. Everything from the faux-drama behind-the-scenes segments revolving around the director’s ill-fated attempts to obtain a finalized set list, to the truncated set design segments – Shine A Light more closely resembles an unfunny Saturday Night Live mocumentary skit than it does a musical masterpiece like Scorsese’s own work with Woodstock and The Last Waltz, or other legendary rocumentaries like U2’s Rattle and Hum, or even (dare I say) Duran Duran’s Sing Blue Silver.

The concert itself was filmed over a two-day stint at New York City’s Beacon Theater in 2006, and tries to lend credibility with a series of high-profile guests including former President Bill Clinton and family (including Clinton’s aging mother) – for whom we are treated to an unproportionally-long and drawn out Clintons-meet-Stones receiving line. While it is nice to see the former President hob-nobbing with the aging UK rockers, the fact that 10 minutes of truly interesting film was probably clipped onto the cutting room floor in lieu of Political namedropping is a tad disappointing.

The musical sets themselves are well-shot, but it is apparent that the aging rockers are well past their prime. While Mick is still able to hold a note, his voice was noticeably shaky and lifeless, and guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood seemed out of sync – wandering around their fretboards without much cohesiveness between the two. Rounding out the rhythm section, Charlie Watts can still pound the skins fairly well even if he does look like a walking corpse – but it is Darryl Jones, the 15 year Stones veteran (he replaced Bill Wyman on bass in 1993), who really acts as the glue holding the tune together for the meandering geezers.

The cameo appearances from the likes of Buddy Guy, Jack White, and Christina Aguilera seem like little more than pomp and circumstance to try to lend credibility to the whole affair, and it is quite obvious that there has been little-to-no prior contact between the offending individuals, as even the simplest of three-chord riffs become muddied with constant showboating and one-upsmanship.

Visuals: 8
Shine A Light does an excellent job capturing the sensation of being on the main floor of the Beacon, with great camera angles and boom sweeps that really convey the intimacy of the auditorium. The lighting and effects are stark, but quite natural, and the fact that stagehands and onlookers can be seen in the background lends a sense of authenticity to the widescreen theatrical release.

The archival footage makes a very solid transition to the Blu-Ray format, with only a modicum pixilation and graininess, and it’s only a shame that the director did not include more of this content in the disc rather than some of the more lackluster musical segments.

Sound: 6
I really expected Shine A Light to pop with the 5.1 Surround Sound, but the result was more of a fizzle. Granted, it is generally hard to capture a true auditorium audio experience in the living room, but even with the volume cranked to the max and equalized, the sound remained flat and hollow. This is utterly unacceptable for a musical documentary, and definitely did not help the cause.

The movie supports two 5.1 formats in the form of DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD 5.1. There is also a 2.0 sound option, but that sounds even less impressive.

Value: 6
The extras are a bit stark – boiling down to a fifteen-minute montage of few cutting room floor clips that further chronicle the famous Clinton reception scene, and some elbow rubbing with the likes of filmmaker Albert Maysles and bluesman Buddy Guy.

There are a handful of additional encore songs, including fan favorites Paint it Black and Little T&A. While the extra scenes are definitely a nice addition, the same lack of energy and cohesiveness of the movie is persistent the added scenes, making them all the less exciting.

Overall: 7.0
While Shine a Light does capture one of rock’s most prodigious groups; it is not quite the package we were hoping for. The Stones are definitely showing their age – both visually and audibly – and no fancy camera angles, cameo appearances, or backstage antics make their lackluster performance any more exciting.