Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006) April 10, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected By: Liam Lynch
Young Jack Black has only one dream: to form the greatest rock and roll band ever heard by man. Simple you might think, but not for a boy trapped in a strictly religious household. On running away to Los Angeles, he meets up with classically trained guitar maestro Kyle Gass and they form ‘Tenacious D’, the band to rule all bands. Now, in order to become rock legends, they must break into the Rock and Roll Museum and steal an ancient magical guitar pick: The Pick of Destiny.
Yes, that’s really the plot of the movie. Whether you enjoy it or not will be very dependent on how much you like the music of Tenacious D. Non-followers will probably hate it, and with good reason since it offers no olive branch to those not familiar with Kyle Gass & Jack Black’s self-confessed ‘greatest band in the world’.
The story is not completely inconsequential, but it sometimes feels like a lame excuse to get Black & Gass into increasingly weird situations involving a Sasquatch, drugs, rock mythology and the devil. Jack Black gets to run riot, acting completely off the leash throughout and keeping the energy up next to Kyle’s more restrained persona. Because of this, there are laughs in there, but there are also moments of ultimate stupidity. It’ll be down to how willing you are to enter their childish play world whether you stick it all the way through or not.
Liam Lynch’s feature debut direction fits the style of the film – that being simple and bold. While it may not be anything special, the cinematography is perfectly acceptable, with some nice flares like the animated tarot cards and title sequence. There are also some neat cameos by both classic rockers like Meatloaf and more recent musicians such as Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, as well as Tim Robbins and exec producer Ben Stiller who both show up to play slightly off-the-wall characters.
For those who enjoyed the first Tenacious D album, there’s plenty of new music to revel in here. And while the catchy rock anthems blast away throughout, sometimes I wish they’d put as much effort into making the script as funny as their song lyrics are. It’s practically a musical, although the best songs are those which describe the action as it’s happening – mainly because they’re so irreverent and spontaneous. Meanwhile the dialogue sequences simply rely on Jack Black’s voice and facial expressions to make them funny. There’s very little decent writing on display.
If you hate JB or ‘the D’ in general then I advise you to stay well away. Seriously, there’s nothing for you here. If you’re really into them however, then there’s no reason you won’t enjoy the numerous album and short-lived MTV series references, as well as all the new tracks. It’s everyone in the middle I fear for, because it could go either way. If you don’t mind subscribing to 90-minutes of puerile, uninhibited, fantasy entertainment, then give it a go. You won’t get any smarter, but if that’s what you’re looking for then you’re in the wrong place anyway.
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