IT MIGHT GET LOUD — ★★★ — Documentary features about three rock guitarists; rated PG (vulgarity, profanity, drugs); Broadway Centre.
"It Might Get Loud" does, indeed, get loud at times.
It also gets pretty funny. And it is a little enlightening as well.
And yes, rock-music lovers will probably like this documentary more than movie lovers. It's a little sloppy, in terms of filmmaking. And at times the point of the whole thing seems to elude director David Guggenheim.
Yet the sloppiness is almost in keeping with the experimental styles of guitar playing that are featured in the movie. A few bits of brilliance shine through the messier moments.
In the film, Guggenheim profiles three very different guitar-playing personalities — White Stripes, Dead Weather and Raconteurs frontman Jack White; U2's Dave "The Edge" Evans; and Jimmy Page, whose innovations as the featured instrumentalist for Led Zeppelin are still being studied today.
We first see the impish White in the process of making a guitar from a piece of lumber, a pop bottle and some wire. (Given the howls that emanate from the improvised "musical instrument," we can understand fully well why the cows in a nearby pasture seem so perturbed by it.)
He might be joking about "stealing" secrets from the older legends, but he's probably being at least a little truthful.
As for Evans, we get to see how he makes some of his trademark, chiming and ringing tones with the simplest of strums. We also get to hear what his playing sounds like without any modifications or effects. (The fact that he can use effects pedals and other tweaking to constantly change up his sound, as well as that of the band, is part of his genius.)
The first half or so of the movie consists of artist profiles. White's work is shown as being equal parts bluesy snarl and loose-limbed improvisation, while Evans' approach is more restrained and cerebral. Page, the surprisingly dignified elder statesman, is the real trailblazer.
Director Guggenheim (the Oscar-winning "An Inconvenient Truth") is really not required to do much more than just set up his cameras to capture these men at work and play. But when he finally gets the three ax men in a room together, it's good stuff — even if it does sound like the setup for a joke. ("An American, an Irishman and an Englishman walk into a room together, and … ")
"It Might Get Loud" is rated PG and features suggestive language (innuendo and other mildly racy talk), scattered profanity and a few drug allusions (song lyrics and such). Running time: 97 minutes.
e-mail: jeff@desnews.com