{"id":1768,"date":"2025-03-21T20:11:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T00:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/?p=1768"},"modified":"2025-03-21T20:11:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T00:11:49","slug":"becoming-led-zeppelin-but-barely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/03\/21\/becoming-led-zeppelin-but-barely\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming Led Zeppelin… But Barely"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For a band as electrifying and larger-than-life as Led Zeppelin, you\u2019d expect a documentary about their origins to be just as thrilling. Unfortunately, Becoming Led Zeppelin<\/em> does anything but. Instead of capturing the raw energy, mystique, and chaos that defined the band, the film delivers a sluggish, overly polished history lesson that fails to do justice to their name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directed by Bernard MacMahon, the documentary had the rare advantage of featuring interviews with standing members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones, alongside voiceovers from past interviews with the late John Bonham. The film also incorporates archival footage, much of it beautifully restored, but even these visuals couldn\u2019t make up for the lack of depth in storytelling. Rather than weaving these elements into a compelling, well-paced narrative, Becoming Led Zeppelin<\/em> relies too heavily on long-winded interview segments that, while historically valuable, often feel meandering and repetitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest issue is the pacing \u2013 this film drags<\/em>. Clocking in at nearly two and a half hours, it somehow manages to make the thrilling rise of Led Zeppelin feel dull. Instead of an engaging, dynamic narrative, we get an overly reverent, slow-moving collection of chronicle footage and extended interview clips that don\u2019t tell us anything new. It\u2019s as if the filmmakers were so in awe of their subject that they forgot to make an actual movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another disappointing aspect is how much the documentary focuses on individual members before they formed Zeppelin, rather than the band itself. While it\u2019s interesting to hear about Jimmy Page\u2019s session work or Robert Plant\u2019s early gigs, these segments go on for far too long, at the expense of more essential parts of the band’s story. By the time we get to the formation of Zeppelin, it feels like half the movie has already passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that wasn’t enough, this documentary completely lacks the energy and rebellious spirit that made the band honored. The concert footage is great, but it\u2019s nothing fans haven\u2019t already seen. It did, however, stay right on the lasting theme of length. The show footage was played out till half a full set: 10-15 minutes each<\/em>. It felt like each time they played, they wouldn\u2019t ever stop. There\u2019s little in the way of behind-the-scenes stories, personal struggles, or the dynamic between the members\u2014just a sanitized, surface-level look at their rise to fame. It\u2019s as if the film is afraid to delve into anything that might complicate the band\u2019s mythos, which ultimately makes it feel hollow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to the frustration, the cinematography suddenly shifts gears near the end of the film, finally bursting to life with the kind of energy and excitement that was missing for the previous two hours. The visuals become more dynamic, the editing more kinetic, and the music swells in a way that actually feels like a Zeppelin-worthy apex. But by this point, it\u2019s too little, too late. The entire film should have carried this level of intensity instead of cramming it all into the final act, leaving the audience wondering why the rest of the documentary felt so lifeless in comparison. It almost seems as though the filmmakers realized at the last minute that they needed to make things exciting but had already spent too much time on slow-paced interviews and drawn-out backstories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One last glaring flaw is the lack of perspective from key figures outside of the band. Unlike documentaries that provide a well-rounded look at an artist\u2019s journey, this one feels like it exists in a vacuum. There\u2019s almost no commentary from journalists, critics, or musicians who were there at the time, making it feel oddly one-dimensional. Many names were mentioned, but there wasn\u2019t much insight from anyone but the band.  A more balanced approach could have added some much-needed depth, rather than just rehashing the well-known details of Zeppelin\u2019s ascent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a die-hard fan who just wants to see high-quality footage and hear some familiar anecdotes, you might enjoy this. But if you were hoping for a deep, engaging documentary that captures the essence of Led Zeppelin itself, this one fails to deliver. For a band known for their raw power and mystique, Becoming Led Zeppelin<\/em> is shockingly lifeless. In the end, it feels less like a definitive documentary and more like a long, overly polished tribute reel\u2014one that ultimately does a disservice to the band\u2019s true spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a band as electrifying and larger-than-life as Led Zeppelin, you\u2019d expect a documentary about their origins to be just as thrilling. Unfortunately, Becoming Led Zeppelin does anything but. Instead of capturing the raw energy, mystique, and chaos that defined the band, the film delivers a sluggish, overly polished history lesson that fails to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":1769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[35,27],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1768"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1770,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1768\/revisions\/1770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}