Heavy Metal Review - Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll.
Format Reviewed: 4K UHD Digital
Director: Gerald Potterton
Producers: Ivan Reitman, Leonard Mogel
Starring: Rodger Bumpass, Jackie Burroughs, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks, Martin Lavut, Marilyn Lightstone, Eugene Levy, Alice Playten, Harold Ramis, Susan Roman, Richard Romanus, August Schellenberg, John Vernon, Zal Yanovsky
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Release: August 7th, 1981
Genre: Science Fantasy
Rating: R
Running Time: 90 minutes
Budget: $9.3 million
Box Office: $20.1 million
A glowing green orb that embodies ultimate evil terrorizes a young girl with an anthology of bizarre and fantastic stories.
Heavy Metal is an adult animated science fantasy anthology film with an emphasis on ADULT.
I originally caught the very end of this movie on some TV streaming service back in the mid-2010s and was honestly astonished that it was being broadcast.
I was immediately captivated by the killer soundtrack and the brutality of the action I was seeing on the screen, but what really made me go wide-eyed was when they started showing massive tits and ass like it was nobody's business.
This movie is a steady stream of art, music, violence, gore, titties, and ass.
All of my favorite things!
Unfortunately, the film is definitely a product of its time and the misogyny is out in full force.
I don't plan on spoiling the movie in this review, but I will say this...
In the first story, we are brought to the very far future (2031!) and dropped into a dystopian version of New York City where we meet a cab driver named Harry Canyon who ends up getting in way over his head with this girl, or as he grossly calls her, "broad", and long story short, she ends up spending the night at his place and immediately strips down so they can fuck.
Don't get me wrong. Two folks hooking up is fine and dandy. But this guy is the definition of a sleazeball. He looks and acts disgusting, the dude is so greasy and gross; his place is an absolute dump, and we're expected to believe that he just pulls all the ladies on sight?
I mean seriously, LOOK AT THESE TWO!
There's even a scene where this guy pulls up to a hot dog stand, gets his hot dog, takes a single bite, and then throws it out the window.
Fuck you, Harry Canyon.
But I digress.
Heavy Metal presents eight stories and an epilogue in its 90 minute run time. Each of them varying wildly in quality.
The film opens up with an incredible scene where a convertible jettisons out of a NASA-style space shuttle with an astronaut behind the wheel, hurdling towards Earth as badass music plays in the background.
The other stories vary wildly from one another.
One is about a space trial against a jerk who looks like one of the Republican Space Rangers from Grand Theft Auto V, another features a skinny white kid finding a glowing rock and turning into a shredded black dude who is then transported across space, and another has these two EXTREMELY Canadian alien space truckers doing lines of space coke.
Believe it or not, that last one actually rules.
But I think my favorite of the lot is "B-17", where a World War II bomber called the "Pacific Pearl" gets into a combat situation that turns supernatural with the quickness.
All of these stories play out with loads of violence, sex, and great music with a soundtrack consisting of performances by...
- Black Sabbath
- Blue Öyster Cult
- Cheap Trick
- Devo
- Don Felder
- Donald Fagen
- Grand Funk Railroad
- Journey
- Nazareth
- Riggs
- Sammy Hagar
Sadly, a lot of the tracks don't play quite long enough, but those that do often sync up with their designated scenes really well, which leads to some fun and trippy experiences.
Some of the animation is incredible with very impressive visual effects, while others look terrible, and there's rarely any in between.
Combine this with the very dated dialogue and voice acting, where it's clear the actors weren't even in the same room while recording their lines, and you're left with this sort of muddled mess that is both impressive and horrifying - kind of like watching a house burn down.
Heavy Metal is one of those movies that isn't good, yet it's great at the same time.
It's definitely my style of movie. I love anthologies, metal, sci-fi, fantasy, sex, violence, and horror.
But viewing this type of content through a modern lens will always be controversial, and at times it can be difficult to ignore the urge to cringe.
That said, the parts that are good are really damn good, and I will always love media that is unapologetically expressions of art and Heavy Metal fits that bill flawlessly.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Sex and Violence | 1980s Incel Writing |
| Great Soundtrack | Songs Cut Too Soon |
| Incredible Animation | Terrible Animation |
| Fun Anthology Stories | Bad Voice Acting |