Plot: What’s it about?
When This is Spinal Tap hit theaters in the mid 80’s it was ahead of its time. Nowadays we know what a “mockumentary” is, but back then…not so much. Over the last four decades we’ve experienced many a mockumentary, so while the allure isn’t quite as fresh as it once was, we have to ask ourselves if it’s still there for David, Nigel and Derek? Add in Rob Reiner to the mix who went onto direct such hits as Stand By Me, A Few Good Men, The Princess Bride and Misery just to name a few. Admittedly, when I saw this was in the making I had to scratch my head. On one hand I was excited to see it and the original cast/director reunited, but another part of me was asking myself if it was going to be similar to Happy Gilmore 2 in which…it was good, but had too much time passed for it to really work. Let’s find out.
Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner), the director from the original, is back to document the planned one-night reunion concert of Spinal Tap. The trio is set to do this in New Orleans and the cameras follow the gang as they’re reunited. Rehearsals begin and, as we might expect, the search for a new drummer begins. In a humorous sequence, Chad Smith (drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers) declines his invite for fear of, well, dying. We then turn our focus to the band members: Nigel (Christopher Guest), David (Michael McKean) and Derek (Harry Shearer) as the aforementioned duo are somewhat at odds with one another. We do meet a few new characters in a concert promoter, Simon (Chris Addison) who brings new meaning to the term “phony” and we see a few of the original’s supporting players make an appearance along with some other rock legends.
This isn’t one that will challenge your intellect. Likely any fan knows what to expect when going in. To be fair, the film does have a few humorous moments, but they’re few and far between. It’s enough to keep the interest there and at just a shade over 80 minutes, it’s not too much of an investment of one’s time. It’s hard to capture lightning in a bottle, however, and for anyone expecting this to be as good/groundbreaking as the original is going to be let down. The magic is still there, to be sure, but in my opinion this one only goes to a 7.
Video: How’s it look?
By now, we know the “mockumentary” look and feel, though this doesn’t really feel like that. Handheld camera movements and so forth notwithstanding, this looks pretty darn good. The 1.85:1 AVC HD encode is tack sharp, has some great color and shows us that four decades can add a few wrinkles, less hair and so forth to us all. There’s a wide array of looks here as well, with some darker concert scenes, outdoor portions that have great lighting and everything in between. Yes, the stars (and director) have all aged, but that’s not to say this doesn’t look the part. It does.
Audio: How’s it sound?
I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that anyone, anywhere who’s reviewing a disc of a Spinal Tap movie will be contractually obligated to put the phrase “goes to 11” in there somewhere. My commitment has been fulfilled. Truthfully, the DTS HD Master Audio mix is the same one found on the 4K counterpart and it sounds pretty darn good. Yes, we get some decent tunes out of the mix with vocals being front and center. I was surprised at how good some of the concert scenes sounded as well. Comparing that with the original, it’s clear that a lot of progress has been made in the past four decades when it comes to audio.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Here’s hoping you like the film, because there are no extras. If you opt for the 4K version, you’ll get some deleted scenes.
The Bottom Line
This is a worthy follow-up to the 1984 classic, but as we might have guessed – it falls short in a few categories. It’s nice to see the band back together, literally, though. This Blu-ray both looks and sounds good, though the omission of any supplements is a bit of a let down as is having to buy the 4K to get supplements that should have been included here.
