Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I just finished watching the movie and I'm surprised that I actually got to the end. It was so horrible that I was considering to stop watching many times during the movie. First of all, the events are not historically in the right order. Many little details are missing such Sav playing guitar in the beginning instead of bass. In the movie Steve and Phil are writing the Pour Some Sugar on Me intro riff right after the Pyromania tour, although the song was actually the last one written for Hysteria and the idea was actually by Joe, the intro riff was originally a country riff by "Mutt" that Phil gave that Leppard sound. There are many more little flaws like that. These really spoil it for a real fan I think. In addition, the personalities of the characters don't match to the real ones. Def Leppard have always said they have always had democracy and peace in the band, however in the movie it appears to be the other way round. I've got to point out that "Mutt" Lange was awfully portrayed as well. As a Def Leppard fan I think this movie shows no respect to the band, its members and songs. This movie will most likely give a non-Leppard fan a really wrong idea of Def Leppard.

When I first saw the add for this movie I could not wait to see it. After seeing it I have to add my take of it. As far as factual goes it,s 50/50. It would have interesting to see the events how they really happened not how they are shown in the movie. First any Def Leppard fan knows Pete Willis was let go from the band wile they were in the studio recording Pyromania not after a show. Second, they knew Phil they did not see him in a club playing in a band (alough I really thought that was a cool scene if not factual)Over all this is a story about a band who overcame incredible odds and came back with an album that stands the test of time.I would have liked to seen more in the film such as how the band got through the death of Steve Clark and the addition of Vivian Cambell. In my opion the movie should have ended with Def Leppard playing at the tribute to Freddie Mercury at Wembly Arena in 1992.I had hoped that when this film was released on DVD that there would have been deleted scenes included sadly there were none.

Now, I was never a fan of Def Leppard after Pyromania, but seeing this DVD at my local Blockbuster, I had to rent it to see how the film makers portrayed this band. Knowing the story of this band, since I was a fan of metal from the early 80's, I was truly disappointed with the outcome.The film (thankfully) really focuses on the early days of the band, when they were a straight ahead rock band, before all the commercial nonsense of "Hysteria". The story begins with the band forming and ends before the hysteria of "Hysteria". The film focuses a lot on Rick Allen's tragic car accident that took his left arm, and on the out of control Steve Clarke.First off, this film is much too short. Under 90 minutes?!? With all the tragedy that this band faced, the film should have been much longer. It also should have shown the audience what happened to Steve Clarke, a great guitar player who was battling his demons with alcohol. He deserved much more in this film than a little blurb during the end credits.The actors do a decent job when not performing on stage. Their stage performances are much too wooden. But they did mostly look like the band. It was also great to see Anthony Michael Hall again. Too bad he is now stuck doing TV movies. I always liked him as an actor.Also, the locations where they shot this did not look like England to me, and the view of the band at the height of their career just does not make the audience believe. Can you seriously think that Joe Elliot was driving a Volvo during the height of his career. Little details like this will have the fan of Def Leppard in stitches.This is the first film I have seen that VH1 has done. Living in Canada, we don't get that video channel. Hopefully, if they decide to do future films, they will be much better.If you are a Def Leppard fan, you will definitely want to see this, but may be very disappointed in the lack of attention to detail, and more importantly, the lack of quality.

This film was so much like the old "look in" (uk kids comic) comic strips which told the story of a pop star or groups ascent into success. I think it was Peter Kay who said the Tina Turner one had the first picture showed her being born and the parents saying "its a baby girl we'll call her tina" the next frame says,"Ike please don't hit me" and the 3rd and final frame which shows her singing "I'm your private dancer". Its hilarious how they have badly condensed a good rock and roll story in a way only American TV can. Incredibly bad continuity throughout and surreal to watch. It inspired me and my mates to get drunk and make our own version with a camcorder, we managed to condense ours down even more to about 10 minutes, its far more entertaining and probably more accurate(!) (Its called Hysterical, The Jeff Leppard Story). The original needed lines like this!"Notice anything different about me?" "Your hair?" "No Its not my hair!" "Whos hair is it then?"