Kings of Rock - Tenacious D

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Movie
German title Kings of Rock - Tenacious D
Original title Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
Country of production USA , Germany
original language English
Publishing year 2006
length 93 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 14
Rod
Director Liam Lynch
script Jack Black
Kyle Gass
Liam Lynch
production Jack Black
Kyle Gass
Stuart Cornfeld
music Andrew Gross
John King
camera Robert Brinkmann
cut David Rennie
occupation

Kings of Rock - Tenacious D (Original title: Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny ) is a musical comedy from 2006 directed by Liam Lynch with Jack Black and Kyle Gass in the lead roles.

action

Young Jables, also known as JB, lives in a humble, strictly religious family in Kickapoo, Missouri . At dinner he presents a rock song he composed himself, in which the expression “ fuck ” is often used. There is an argument with his father. He puts Jables over his knee in his room, hits him with his belt and then tears all the posters of various rock bands off the wall. Only the poster of Ronnie James Dio remains as it was hidden behind the open door. The young JB turns to DIO looking for help, almost like a prayer ( Dio is also the Italian word for "God"), who suddenly speaks to him from the poster. He instructs JB to go to Hollywood and form the best band in the world there. The young JB secretly leaves his parents' house and sets off on foot. Since he first visited several wrong places on his journey, all of which were named Hollywood, his journey took several years.

The grown-up JB finally meets in Los Angeles on the beach in Venice Beach for the first time on Kage, also abbreviated to KG, as a street musician playing guitar on the promenade. JB admires and adores Kage for his extraordinary guitar skills. However, he lets JB feel that he is a real rock star and only after a long hesitation agrees to give JB rock lessons. "Powerslides", "stand supports" and other "essential" things of rock 'n' roll life are practiced.

When JB finds out that KG lied to him and is not a rock star himself, but also a failed existence that has no successes to show but lives on his mother's checks, an argument breaks out. Not even KG's long hair is real, just a wig . According to a flashback, KG has been balding since he was a child and was affectionately known by his mother as “Pumpkin” (German: pumpkin , which means something like “little mouse” or “treasure” in English). After JB finds out that KG has bought him with the last money of rent a guitar, both reconcile and decide to form a band: Tenacious D . The name is fate , because he is a birthmark that: On the right buttock of JB the word "Tenac" can be seen on the left buttock of KG turn one recognizes "ious D". They also have their first fan, the pizza delivery guy Lee.

After a moderately successful performance in a club, they wonder why their idols are so successful. KG notices that all great guitarists play with the same guitar pick ( plectrum ) on the covers of different magazines . When trying to buy such a pick in a huge guitar shop, the seller tells you the story of the mysterious “Pleck des Schicksals”, abbreviated PDS (in the original: POD - Pick of Destiny ). A magician once conjured up the devil in the Middle Ages. However, this was not to be subjugated, so the devil wanted to drag the magician with him to hell. A young blacksmith saved the magician by knocking out a tooth from the devil. The devil was no longer "complete" because part of him was missing, and the magician could send him back to hell with a spell. In gratitude for the salvation, the magician helped the blacksmith to conquer his beloved; he carved a pick from the devil's tooth for the blacksmith. This enabled the blacksmith to make music on one lute so well that he could win the hearts of his loved ones. The PDS was lost for a long time until it reappeared at the beginning of the 20th century and came into the possession of some great rock musicians, such as Eddie Van Halen or Angus Young . Now the pick should be in the "Rock and Roll History Museum".

JB and KG decide to steal the PDS from the museum. So both set out on the trip in Lee's borrowed car. In a small restaurant on the way there is an argument between the two. Jables desperately wants the PDS, but Kage lets a couple of young students invite him to a party, to whom he poses as a rock star. The two of them then parted ways. JB goes to the museum alone. There he wants to break in with the help of a self-drawn map that he received from a mysterious stranger with an unusual accent , crutches and the appearance of a vagabond. KG goes to the party with the students where he is supposed to play one of his hits. He is booed, ridiculed and left the party. In the meantime, Jables wanders through a forest and eats his fill of wild mushrooms that turn out to be hallucinogenic . JB has an intense trip in which he meets Sasquatch (also known as Bigfoot ) and travels with him through a colorful dream forest.

In the air shaft of the “Rock and Roll History Museum”, JB and KG meet again and reconcile. You will find the PDS, which is secured by a light curtain . JB does gymnastics through the web of rays, but gets stuck shortly before his goal. Although the kill switch for the alarm system is right in front of JB at belt height, it cannot move back or forth. Kage reminds JB of the training, especially of the "stand supports" that JB can use to deactivate the system. Thanks to the incompetent guards, they manage to escape.

Back in Los Angeles, there is another wild chase - although the police only stop the vehicle because of a broken taillight, KG loses her nerve and accelerates. After a rollover both manage to escape into the sewer system before their car explodes. So they make it to the band competition in time.

When they fight about the PDS before the competition, they break it - the manager of the club encourages them, they don't need the pick, the rock or the Satan of rock is in them and not in the pick. JB and KG storm onto the stage. The manager, however, turns out to be the devil himself, who is "complete" again thanks to the PDS. Tenacious D, who rush back to the courtyard to still use the fragments of the PDS, now face the devil and challenge him to a "Rock Off", a competition in which they compete against each other with their rock music. Since the devil cannot refuse a “rock off”, he accepts. With his hard heavy metal he plays both of them to the ground. When the devil wants to cash in his winnings and take KG with him to hell, he fires a bolt of lightning at KG. JB heroically throws himself into the trajectory of lightning and it is deflected by JB's guitar at the last second. The reflected lightning throws off a horn of the devil - it is "incomplete" again. JB remembers the spell to send the devil back to hell. The two finally build the BOD ( Bong of Destiny ) from the horn .

background

The film is built around the old HBO television series Tenacious D. Many of the characters appeared in this series, such as the fan Lee and Sasquatch. The bar with the “ open mic evening ” and the show master appear in every HBO episode, including the running gag that he has to read a message from Tenacious D every time before their appearance.

The director Liam Lynch explained in the making-of that the film represents a kind of pre-history to the HBO episodes and takes place about a year before the series.

It was released in theaters in the USA on November 22, 2006 and in Germany on February 8, 2007.

Production costs were estimated at around $ 20 million.

Trivia

  • At the beginning of the film, the THX trailer that precedes THX -certified films is poked fun at, with JB and KG performing the soundcheck as cartoon characters with the help of "Chili Cheese" burritos and the resulting flatulence . Instead of a THX logo, the letters “THC” are used (alluding to tetrahydrocannabinol , the main active ingredient in cannabis ). Instead of the THX advertising slogan “the audience is listening” (the audience is listening) read the sentence “the audience is baking” (the audience is stoned). This scene was realized by John Kricfalusi , the creator of the cartoon characters Ren and Stimpy , who is also responsible for various music videos for Tenacious D.
  • In one of the first scenes, JB is beaten up by four people wearing white clothes and bizarre masks. A scene from the film A Clockwork Orange is recreated here. When the group shows up, a short piece from the original score by Uhrwerk Orange is played and the Nadsat spelling from this film is used.
  • According to the audio commentary on the DVD, the "power-hug" shown in the film (called "Power-Knuddeln" in the German version) is based on a hug that Tom Cruise gave another man at the premiere of the film Magnolia . Jack Black and Kyle Gass wanted to recreate these exaggerated gestures by Tom Cruise ("the most powerful power-man-hug") in the film.
  • In many scenes, some allusions to films or series are made. For example, KG calls JB "my little grasshopper" as Kwai Chang Caine was once called during his training in the television series Kung Fu . (In the original he calls him "my little grassmoker" instead of grasshopper)
  • KG wears a t-shirt from the band Trainwreck most of the time, of which he is also a member.
  • In the Rock Museum there is a "Guitarway to Heaven", a reference to " Stairway to Heaven " by Led Zeppelin . The attempt to get approval for the designation "Stairway to Heaven" failed because, according to a statement by Jack Black, a completely excessive sum of money was demanded from a manager of Led Zeppelin.
  • In the museum, JB does gymnastics through a network of laser beams. According to the audio commentary, this pays homage to Mission: Impossible .
  • KG reminds JB of the "Cock-Push-Up-Training" with the words "Use the cock ..." ( ... use your tail ) based on the "Use the Force!" From Star Wars .
  • At the end of the film, KG says that JB should play the best song in the world, but JB cannot remember the song; this is an allusion to the song Tribute by Tenacious D, which says "I couldn't remember the greatest song in the world - this is just a tribute ...".
  • Satan, played by Dave Grohl , looks the same as in the video for the song Tribute . The demon is also shown in this video by Dave Grohl.
  • Ben Stiller, a salesman in the guitar business, already made a guest appearance in the video for Tribute .
  • Lee lives in Apartment 101, just like Neo in The Matrix . This is a reference to George Orwell's 1984 novel in which Room 101 plays an important role.
  • KG plays the video game “Maximum Overthruster” almost every day - a chase with the police in a blue car. He always fails at a roadblock where he fails to escape via a ramp. At the end of the film this is exactly what happens in reality.
  • The only track on The Pick of Destiny album that does not appear in the film is The Government Totally Sucks . The scene with the song was cut out.
  • At the appearance in the pub, where JB and KG play the piece Masterexploder, John Konesky is among the guests. Konesky played the electric guitar on the 2nd album and some live performances.
  • The German distributor organized a Germany-wide air guitar competition , the Tenacious D - Air Guitar Contest , at the start of the film . An artist who played a song from the film under water was chosen as the winner by the public vote.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album The Pick of Destiny for the film was released on November 14, 2006 and is also Tenacious D's second album after Tenacious D (2001). The band is supported on the album by Dave Grohl , Meat Loaf , Ronnie James Dio and a few others.

Reviews

United States

In the United States, the film was heavily criticized for its frequent scenes of substance abuse . The film has also been criticized for having a lot of sexual innuendos and using very dirty language. Otherwise, the reviews were largely positive. On metacritic.com the film received a rating of 55 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, suggesting mixed to positive ratings.

Germany

In Germany, the reviews were sometimes very negative. Critic.de writes, among other things, that the acting performance of Kyle Gass is limited to a few facial expressions and facial expressions, and that director Liam Lynch relies on Jack Black's eyebrows. The cameo appearances by Ben Stiller , Meat Loaf and Tim Robbins are the only humorous highlights. Otherwise, the film is more for die-hard fans of heavy metal and all people who appreciate rock.

Kino.de however, this a film as a pseudo- documentary of the band's history of Tenacious D . The motto: Wayne's World and This Is Spinal Tap say hello.

Schnitt.de draws the following picture: After the successful intro including a moral sermon by Meat Loaf, the film loses because the plot becomes thinner. However, Jack Black's talent to "rock" whatever it takes, is ultimately entertaining.

Austria

The reviews from Austria show a similar picture (as in Germany). The Kurier describes the film as a "pubescent stoner comedy" and also hooks up with the thin plot.

In the Upper Austrian News it was said on February 10, 2007 that fans of Jack Black and Tenacious D would enjoy this little film, for everyone else there would be some funny ideas and the realization that Jack Black consistently pulled through his kind of humor . In the over-the-top and senseless story, one star appearance would chase the next.

Der Falter also describes the film as a pseudo-documentation.

Filmtipps.at is positive, where the comedy is rated very well, especially due to Jack Black's physical effort.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ age rating for Kings of Rock - Tenacious D . Youth Media Commission .
  2. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/movie/tenacious-d-in-the-pick-of-destiny