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Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (2009)

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Overall Rating 83%
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Connections: Band: Iron Maiden

A chronological account of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden's 2008 world tour through India, Australia, Japan, USA, Canada, Mexico and South America in a jet piloted by the band's front man, Bruce Dickinson. Features interviews with the musicians, their road crew and fans. --IMDb
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Review by Nirrad
Added: June 10, 2009
As far as I'm concerned, Iron Maiden is the greatest band in the world. You may not agree with that, but I could care less. We all have our favorite bands and different taste in music. But as far as Maiden is concerned, they have released gold over the past 29 years (minus A Matter of Life and Death). So of course when new material is released, I start to crap my pants and can't wait to get my hands on it. So when I heard about Flight 666 I couldn't wait to see it in theaters. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch it in theaters due to its limited release, but thankfully it was released to DVD within a month and a half. But did this "revolutionary" documentary blow me away? Or did I overhype it?

"Flight 666" is about a film crew following Iron Maiden around for the 3 months that they toured for the first leg of the Somewhere Back In Time Tour. Here we get to see what they do backstage, what they do in their free time, how they prepare for a tour... etc. Director and writers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen were given privilege by Iron Maiden themselves to be allowed behind the stage to really give us the viewers an in depth look on one of the most influential bands of all time. We start on day 1 of the tour where Maiden invades India for the first show. The documentary continues to play out day to day, show to show, showing us what they did and their opinions on the show, or their experience within the country. For each concert, a song from Maiden is shown from that particular show until it reaches the end of the tour in Toronto where they play the final song. I found this to be quite enjoyable and a nice touch to the documentary to follow the set list in order. But they didn't play all the songs from the set list, and sometimes the song overshadowed the actual documentary which is a shame in this particular situation.

I absolutely love it when we are given the opportunity to see what goes on behind the stage. I expect to see some pretty interesting and new stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't really find that here. Sure there were some interesting segments and some funny moments, but nothing to what the trailers led me to believe. "We can tell you, but then we would have to kill you" is a quote given from guitarist Janick Gers when asked about what goes on behind the stage from a reporter. This is definitely not something worth dying for. Mostly everything shown is something a Maiden fan already knew, or just common sense and nothing out of the ordinary. I'll admit it is neat watching the band members visit tourist locations, but at the same time I just really don't care. It's no different than watching your aunt and uncle's vacation videos, only these people are famous. For me personally, I believe that the band members didn't have enough interviews or screen time that's worth a damn. Manager Rob Smallwood is shown quite a bit throughout the documentary, and although he seems to be a very interesting guy, I really don't care how he is the best rock manager, or how he gets angry. Meanwhile poor guitarist Dave Murray probably says about 10 words throughout the whole movie. I know he's a quiet guy, but come on; I'm sure after three months with the band he's had quite a few interesting things to say. For me, the best parts were the segments with the fans. It's truly fascinating how devoted these fans are and I do believe that Maiden has some of the most loyal fans in the world.

Even though it didn't live up to my expectations, "Flight 666" really is a great watch. It's cool to see the stage being set up and their reaction to sketchy locations and stages throughout the third world countries. Nicko definitely steals the show in terms of the band members. He gave me exactly what I wanted, his mood before and after the show, how he handles interviews and fans and so forth. If only the other band members were more interesting. As a bonus, we are given an entire concert which, in my opinion, contains the best Maiden set list ever, and that is just simply awesome. I personally believe that Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn did a better job with "Metal: A Headbangers Ball" in terms of a documentary, but this is still an essential for any Maiden fan and still is a great watch with a badass set list. I still highly recommend it. Plus a few extra points for being able to spot myself during the concert and with my friends during the credits.

8.5/10.
Crispy #1: Crispy - added June 10, 2009 at 10:38am
I'll never understand the hate for A Matter of Life and Death. It's a great album. It's not their best, sure, but still really solid.
Nirrad #2: Nirrad - added June 10, 2009 at 3:28pm
Honestly, I don't mind the album. I actually enjoy listening to it in a car for some reason. My main problem with it are the riffs. Each song starts out sooooo good. Then they gay it up by doing the same riff in every song. A great example is The Longest Day. It starts off moody and strong, then around 1:33 they play the riff that completely takes me out of the song, and that riff is pretty much in through out the album.
Lucid Dreams #3: Lucid Dreams - added June 11, 2009 at 11:06am
I love Maiden, they have to be one of the greatest Heavy Metal acts of our time, I'll take a look at it. Also good review Darrin.
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