Directed By Rob Reiner

Starring – Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer

The Plot – Forty-one years after the release of the groundbreaking mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap”, the now estranged bandmates David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls (McKean, Guest, and Shearer) are forced to reunite for one final concert. The film also marks the resurrection of documentarian Marty Di Bergi (Rob Reiner), who once again tries to capture his favorite metal gods as they contemplate mortality and the hope that their 12th drummer doesn’t join them in The Great Beyond

Rated R for adult language including some sexual references.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues – Official Trailer – Only In Cinemas Now

POSITIVES

If the original film was a satirical insight into the specific truths and unsettling consistencies of band life togetherness, this sequel serves to cultivate legacy to a band in an ever-shifting music industry, and while it ultimately falls significantly short of its iconic predecessor, there’s enough heart and entertaining value to Reiner’s sequel that more than justifies its existence, nearly forty years later. For starters, Reiner’s direction still constructs a stage for the ensemble to shine, with the dazzling trio of McKean, Guest and Shearer stepping back seamlessly into the respective roles, while effectively emulating the battle tested chemistry between them that bares all of the bitterness, quirky cadences, and artistic integrity of a group of men who have clearly been together for far too long. While this is an ensemble-first piece, with ample room to shine amongst them, the film is clearly at its best whenever the trio share the screen simultaneously with one another, enacting not only the razor sharp comedic timing between them that compliments the punchlines of the mockumentary style captivity, but also the escapist aspect of their performances, which allow them to practically disappear within their rockstar personas, feeling like the natural progression of these characters, as a result of the love and honor that Reiner has for one of his most legendary properties. In addition to the trio at the forefront of the narrative, the film is also blessed by an abundance of surprise celebrity cameos from nearly everybody in the rock genre, as well as a slamming soundtrack that combines nine new tracks with four re-recorded classics, cementing a versatile offering of instrumental and subgenres that convey the artistic platitude of the band. Considering every track is mastered impressively by the aforementioned trio comprising the main characters, it’s remarkable the kind of infectious exhilaration that they supplant to catchy lyrics and legitimately hypnotic rhythm sections, and while it would be easy enough for the film to phone it in on the nostalgic nourishment of simply playing the favorites, I appreciate that the time off from the last film was spent adding to the expansive catalogue of the fictional artist, with no shortage of transitional performances that make up more than a majority of the effortlessly endearing 80-minute runtime. As for the filmmaking behind this mockumentary, there is an obviously subtle increase in budget that appraises an updated look to the production value of the picture, but handheld captivity still conjures the most immersive element to the authentic look and feel of what we expect in music documentaries, complimenting the abruptly dry deliveries in comedic material, especially when spontaneity surmises. While the comedy factor itself is a bit inconsistent at times, especially when some scenes drown on a bit longer than necessary, the film is at its funniest when it cleverly taps into more of the unpredictable instances of unforeseen adversity that constantly plagues the band’s expectations towards a successful reunion concert, reveling in the universal language of mayhem that connects so many of these real-life bands under one collective roof, all the while capturing the details in the devastation with the most rewarding of camera angles that allow audiences to revel in the ridiculousness of deliveries that this cast constantly commit themselves towards. Without question, the film’s single greatest strength in the laughs department ultimately comes with its ability to reincorporate gags from the previous film back into the sequel, without anything that comes across as desperately pandering, and with the mixing of past footage to offer visuals to what is being discussed audibly, the film masters this technique without feeling like it’s spoon-feeding remember berries to its audience, in turn conveying the bigger picture in the forty year outline of this narrative that seamlessly ties together the past, present and future threads of a band whom we never expected to see again.

NEGATIVES

All of the compliments end there, however, as “Spinal Tap 2” doesn’t quite play to the levels of its iconic original, on account of aforementioned inconsistent humor and shallow story threads that unfortunately aren’t given the ample time to properly develop. On the former, there is just as much crippling silence during deliveries as there are resounding impacts, with the intrusion of the editing simultaneously drowning some scenes on for too long, while others are abruptly hacked into in ways that completely absolve the intention, and for a sequel that has the daunting task of even matching what is arguably one of the funniest films of the 80’s, it isn’t able to evade such a massive shadow, and it ends up leveling some of the meaningful momentum to its consistency that keeps every scene from truly reaching memorable status among its peers. As for the narrative threads, the mockumentary does effectively render the troubles with picking up fame many decades after the band’s original incarnation, but it does stumble towards stitching together a bigger picture with its characters away from the pressures of putting together such a monumental show, making its creative versatility feel a bit one-note, especially once it starts to take chances tapping into some of the glaringly evidential aspects of these characters. Such examples pertain not only to the continued rivalry between Nigel and David, which taps into some unforeseen emotionality for the movie’s third act, but also a new addition to the band and cast, with Valerie Franco’s Didi Crockett serving as the new drummer for the band. While the latter never had a chance, as Didi practically disappears and is deduced to performance footage during montages of the band’s practices, the former seems to grow glaringly apparent the longer the film persists, and while it reaches a boiling point during the third confrontation between the two, it ultimately goes nowhere and doesn’t dig any deeper towards unearthing some new startling revelation, and it wastes away what could possibly be its most rewarding scene towards mending some dramatic depth to this forty year rivalry. If this isn’t enough, the film also shares a common hinderance with its predecessor, as it also ends abruptly with a flat resolution that failed to inspire any semblance of emotionality to my engagement, leading to a strange credits scroll involving additional scenes that served as some of the movie’s greatest gags. Part of me thinks this was done intentionally, in order to pay-off a long-running joke that was initially established during the movie’s opening act, but it ultimately has the engagement feeling like it ran out of time, instead of landing the big risk, and considering it’s followed by an additional five minutes of film, it makes me wish they would’ve just combined it all into one ending, instead of divided them in ways that seemingly rushed the movie’s climax.

OVERALL
“Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues” is slightly better than most prolonged comedy sequels of the contemporary age, on account of the unabashed commitment of its cast playing to the hijinks and hilarity of reality for an aging band in a youth-driven industry, but ultimately doesn’t quite push the experience to eleven, on account of underplaying the melancholic introspection of its characters. While the gags lack inconsistency, and the redundancy of the sequencing continuously slices into the momentum of the investment, the film is nevertheless reheated fan service that goes down easy enough to satisfy its hardcore audience, striking a compelling chord of nostalgic infectiousness between stupid and clever that isn’t afraid to play the favorites for a paying audience.

My Grade: 6.4 or C