Rock Opera (1999/non-musical comedy)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: B-     Film: C-

 

 

Rock Opera (1999) is not a real rock opera and is a movie barely worth me writing about it.  Despite all the extras given and the numerous praise heaped upon it on the back cover, it’s still just a shoddy homemade movie that thinks it has actually reached its aspirations.  The quote used from San Francisco Weekly is purely insulting, as it compares this movie to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and actually claims Rock Opera to be the superior one.  The two movies aren’t remotely comparable, and while both stories involve and center on drug use, they handle it in very different fashions.  Aside from this tie, there is nothing - even remote - to tie them together.  Other opinions aside, this movie just feels so amateur and poorly thought out that it induces heavy cringing.  Halfway through, you’re bound to be wondering how a 90 minute feature can feel like it’s just taken at least 3 hours of your life away.

 

Besides making attempts at drug comedy, this film is supposed to be a combination of other genres as well.  Because of the faster pacing and actual plot involvement (however bad it is), toward the end you can possibly see the faint glimmer of a cheapie action/drama movie thrown in.  And while it isn’t remotely similar in plot or execution, it somehow reminds me of Boondock Saints.  This is perhaps because they both strive to be much bigger, more complicated and more important than they actually are.  Whatever other genres are supposed to be seen, it doesn’t really matter - as it’s all bogged down by being so damn boring and having such bad music plaguing it throughout.  I’m sure that no one in the Austin music scene will be too happy with that last comment, but it’s very true, and the tunes just flat-out suck for the most part.

 

Aside from the music, the acting isn’t especially great either, though this is more understandable as these aren’t professional actors.  Hell, the more typical situation here is that they’re not actors at all.  Nowhere are any of the portrayals close to winning an award, but in the end, everyone gets their jobs done well enough.

 

While the film itself is a letdown - and I think the majority of the world would agree with me on that one... there are a lot of extras for those who did manage to wring some enjoyment out of the feature.  You’ll find 3 optional audio tracks - 2 of them commentaries, the other just endless noisy jamming out... a treat for those seeking something to watch while alone or with friends when using your recreational drugs of choice.  On top of these options, there is a making-of featurette, 14 short films, 5 music vids, and 2 theatrical trailers.  Some of this stuff is watchable, some of it won’t be.  I won’t bother separating the good from the bad in this review, as my opinions will surely differ from others on this stuff.

 

The video quality is pretty weak, but it stems from the film choices made by the creators of the project and their shooting techniques.  The sound was also unimpressive, and was poorly recorded in the beginning, resulting in bad audio quality later down the line when it came time to master it for DVD.

 

My initial expectations of this movie were a bit higher than what my thoughts of it were by the end.  I’d expected something with more humor and cooler situations than what I ended up with.  Another movie sprung from the music scene that I reviewed some time ago, Roadkill, reached what I expected from it - and it’s still a watchable movie for me now.  How some people even managed to sit through this one at all boggles my mind.  Rock Opera has and will find a greater audience, but whatever those people are smoking must be some strong stuff, as this movie offers very little to anyone, and is too tedious to hold attention for any longer than a few minutes or so at a time.  Money would be better spent on a new and unknown CD that looks a little promising.  It couldn’t hurt, and maybe you’ll be helping to promote music that’s actually worth something, unlike that which is contained in here.  My advice: skip it and retreat to some classic stoner cinema instead - the “genre” is pretty vast, and there’s a ton of untapped stuff that is leagues better than this.

 

 

-   David Milchick