Inspired by the real-life story of Tim “Ripper” Owens.
A singer in Judas Priest tribute band who was chosen to replace singer Rob Halford after he left the band, Rock Star is simply life lessons and moral values on living life and dreaming big.
The film tells the story of a tribute band singer Chris “Izzy” Coles played by Mark Wahlberg – who leaps from obsessional fan to metal god when he ascended to the position of lead vocalist of his favourite band. Stephen Herek directed the film from a script written by John Stockwell with the most basic plot development that works every time no matter the genre.
A copy machine repairman by day and lead singer of Blood Pollution by night, Chris Cole lives a perfectly normal life – singing in the church choir, loves and is loved by his family and loyal girlfriend, Emily played by Jennifer Aniston. The purpose of the story seems pretty crystal clear – to change society’s perspective and mindset showing that most heavy metal fanatics are far from the fiction yet accurate to one’s extent portrayal of the “rock n’ roll” world filled with substance abuse and violence.
Nevertheless, the centre of attention turns back to the danger of obsession and fanaticism – Chris’s one huge flaw. He idolizes the band Steel Dragon to the extent of living off his fantasy of becoming the artist and insists that his band to only perform their songs in the exact way they would as he even picks out the smallest fault in the way the member’s play the tune. His egoistic behaviour eventually causes nuisance to the others which leads to him being kicked out of his own band. Miraculously, his idol lead singer of Steel Dragon is also being kicked out as the band sees a tape of Izzy performing and immediately hires him to replace the position.
The film receives mixed criticisms regarding the extremely simple plot development and constantly pointing out the predictable “non-stop cliché”, the basic rise-and-fall sequences which is also quite common especially for a story set in the 80s released in the early 2000s. However, the said to be cliché part of the story does not disrupt the impact of life lessons showed in the film – to pave your own path to your dream.
Moreover, it is even more surprising that the same repetitive scene, of the replacement of the band’s lead singer, gives off different emotions for each. The sequences represent one cycle, for one to move on from their fantasy and live on their true dreams while giving someone else’s the opportunity to do the same.
Film review by @nisabean
(retrieved from Rabak-Lit’s Twitter, revised)