Review of Metallica: Cunning Stunts

Introduction

This is one for Metallica heads. If you`re not a fan of the music style, then this isn`t going to appeal to you in anyway whatsoever. This features live performance footage from their Fort Worth, Texas gig back in 1997. James Hetfield up front plays the crowd and gives them what they want, heavy metal. It`s all good, if you like this sort of thing and the other band members have their parts to play too. All the classic tracks, Sad But True, Wherever I May Roam, Enter Sandman, So What, For Whom the Bells Toll and loads more, are here to enjoy. I would have liked to see a few of the bands original music promos for good measure, just to break up the whole live thing and have something different to look at. As it is, you have one very large venue with some interesting lighting and pyrotechnics.

Video

Quality of video throughout is very good. Nice sharp images, good colours coming through albeit a lot of blues and blacks. Presented in 4:3, there weren`t any signs of compression at all, it`s clean and sharp.

Audio

You have the choice of stereo or Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The 2-channel sound is well recorded and has a lot of bass, it sounds quite good. The sound for the 5.1 mix is quite good too, very loud! On a last note, you can`t seem to switch between 5.1 and stereo sound on the fly, only via with setup menu. This makes it a little more difficult to gauge the difference between the two mixes to see how effective the soundstage is. There is a difference however, with the 5.1 mix coming loud through all speakers. Perhaps a little too much noise for a Friday night in with the parents.

Features

20 songs, interviews, documentary and behind the scenes footage too all selected through an animated menu. As music DVDs go, this is pretty extensive and if you like hardrock/metal, you`re going to appreciate this.

There about six featurettes on disc one, each running for between a minute and about seven minutes covering back stage, the fans, lighting, the stage and more. On disc two there are eight more featurettes including a photo gallery which quite literally has hundreds of pics which work as a slideshow with Sad But True playing in the background. These mini documentaries are quite good and would have been good to have them play sequentially without have to select each one individually.

It`s not just all live footage though, there`s more to it so it`ll keep you occupied for ages. There are three songs performed with multi-angle so you get to select different shots while they play and this works well as you can select which band member you want to follow. It`s fun to play with, though it`s a shame they`ve only made three tracks with it.

You get subtitles too, so those of you who fancy a little Metallica karaoke.

Conclusion

Two discs with a lot of live footage, multi-angle tracks and interviews. Not just band interviews, but stuff with the crew too who put these incredible shows together. It would have been cool to feature a combination of actual video promos as well as the live performances, perhaps they`re saving this for another release? Polygram have done well here with this DVD, both discs are nicely packaged in a black slipcase and run over 140 minutes!! If you`re a Metallica fan, then perhaps you already own this. If you`re a fan and haven`t got this yet, what are you waiting for? Get it and start moshing now!