Review: Death of a Rockstar
*Historical Document: Security footage - Movieplex 9000, mars orbit*
Flawless: 500 CREDITS!? For a movie?!
Movie attendant: *sigh* Yes sir, that’s the current ticket price.
Flawless: Back when I was a lad, movies only cost 50 credits and you got Plutonia popcorn thrown in for free.
Movie attendant: That was QUITE a long time ago sir, you seem to be dating yourself.
Flawless: Yeah yeah, just give me 2 tickets then.
Clementine: Why are you paying for me, Flawless?
Flawless: Even though you’re an A.I., you are still watching the movie. Just seems like the right thing to do.
Clementine: You are an outlaw, remember? You are supposed to cut corners and cheat.
Flawless: Normally yes, but the tickets to this go to the artist. You never steal from someone when there is a direct victim.
Clementine: So we are still going to sneak in a snack right?
Flawless: Oh, well of course. 150 creds for malted mars duds is highway robbery, and I should know.
Howdy Outlaws! This article is going to be a bit different than my usual reviews. More of a flow state of mind or a stream of consciousness. I will get to talking about the rock opera shortly, but I want to explain to you why this means so much to me first. Buckle up, its a bit of a turbulent ride.
What was your spark? Something that drove you to create or do something that you didn’t think you had in you? A driving force that made you step outside your comfort zone? An idea you had that took control of your thought process to a degree that it simply must be acted upon?
I have been in the content creation space for a long time now. I have been doing podcasts and little videos for over 5 years at this point. I have never come close to “making it” over this time, becoming popular enough for it to become an income stream. So why do I still do it?
Well partner, I don’t rightly know the answer to that myself. But I do know that my persona of “Flawless Cowboy” is where all my energy and effort has accumulated. The character has been in my head for years and it’s just in the past 8 or so months that I have started to bring him to life. If I told you that I wanted to create a character that was a space cowboy who smuggled board games that winds up in some zany adventures, you may call me out of my mind. I can’t say I would disagree with you, but I know it’s something I want to create and manifest.
The road is never easy. Pain, failure, and criticism (some deserved, some not) are some of the road blocks you’ll face when you try to bring your spark to life. People will nit-pick it, call it a waste of time, look down on it and tell you you’ll never succeed. But you still drive on, obsess over it, stay up at night thinking of the next iteration of it, the next version that will take you another step closer to your goal.
Finally, even if you get it to the point where you are ready to present it to the public, it may be that no one cares. No one will understand the effort it took to get it to this place. It hurts a lot to create something that puts you out there and it’s just silence.
Why did I start this review like this? Why am I going on and on about the pain of the creative process? That’s because I have stumbled upon something that has inspired me to put the hat back on and get back in the cockpit. A vision from one man that took 13 years to make and it’s a true passion project.
Death of a Rockstar is the work of a single man: Röckët Stähr. He animated the film, composed the music, and was the lead vocals in all but 2 of the 26 songs that are on offer in this modern day rock opera. The movie and album tell the story of a world gone mad with censorship and of a people oppressed under a dictatorship that represses freedoms and creativity. One man, fighting for the freedom of all people, decides to create a clone of a younger him to combat the oppression with the power of rock and roll (it’s a rock opera, all of these are over the top). I think there is only one line of dialog in the whole movie, the rest of the story is told through the visuals and songs.
Is this movie for everyone? No, probably not, and you’ll likely be able to tell from the trailer if it’s for you. Rock operas are not really a thing anymore, there will be some very crazy things on display as well as some “what the heck is happening” moments that may turn off people not used to this style of storytelling. The ideas on offer leave little room for interpretation and you may not agree with them. If you also are not a fan of power metal or rock and roll in general, this is also not for you. You may look at the animation and not like the look of it compared to studio releases (which is not fair, but I get it). But if you are willing to give this a chance, I think you will be surprised.
Now with all that out of the way, Let me tell you why I loved this.
First and foremost, the music is great. Röckët Stähr shows his talent off by really hitting a lot of different highs and lows in his vocals and does a fantastic job of emulating the music of a lot of different artists. From the Beatles, to David Bowie, to Queen, Stahr produces a range of tracks that are both inspired by and respectful to those classics. He is very up front in saying this movie is a tribute to all the great rockers who came before him. You can feel his appreciation through his art. Try these two tracks before continuing on:
If you liked those, I would recommend you at least listen to his album “Death of a Rockstar” on your music streaming service of choice. And if that’s all you want to get out of this review, that’s great! I hope I turned you on to something new for your playlists.
Second, let's talk about the movie itself. It’s important to keep in mind this was all animated by one person, and to me that’s incredible. Animation is really hard, and to see him make a full movie to me is just nuts. I found it interesting while watching the movie to see how his skill progressed as the movie went on. Comparing the earlier scenes in the film to those that come later (a Singing in the Rain scene for example) really show how Stähr improved during his time working on it. You may watch it and be turned off by it, but I look at it as proof that you can do it too. You have to understand that a lot of the things you are comparing it to have whole teams of people working on it or are outsourced to animation companies, and it’s not really fair to compare them in that way. I started to really enjoy it as it went on. So cut it some slack and give it a shot, I think it will grow on you as it did me.
Third and lastly, I want to talk about the drive and passion it took to make this. The spark he had to see the project through to its completion. I can’t tell you how many projects I have started and never seen to completion due to one problem or another. Seeing someone's sole vision come to life that they did on their own is very inspiring. To me it says “Hey, you can do this too!”. I have started down the path for a few video projects myself and this has given me the kick in the pants to get moving on those again.
Art hits everyone differently and that’s what makes it great. You may watch this and hate the music and the movie or worse, be indifferent to it. To me though, it’s that an individual had the vision and drive to see the project through from start to finish that has inspired me to embrace my spark again. I loved the music and the movie, as a tribute to the greats that came before and showing that there is still a place for rock operas in the modern age. It has humor, something to say, and a vision behind it whereas most mainstream media feels soulless and tries to be as inoffensive as possible. Rock and roll is supposed to make you feel something when experiencing it, and I think this does exactly that.
Flawless: What did you think Clem?
Clementine: I will have to say I have never seen anything quite like that.
Flawless: It’s rock and roll, it’s supposed to make ya feel something. What did it make you feel?
Clementine: You can not force humans to be free, they have to want it.
Flawless: I reckon you’re right, Clem. That’s why we do what we do.
Clementine: Sneak candy into movies?
Flawless: Well, yes that. But more importantly we walk our own path. It’s all part of being an outlaw.
Final Verdict
✅ I recommend this movie. You can buy it here: https://deathofarockstore.com/ if you are interested in it or at least listen to the sound track on any streaming service. It may not be for everyone, but it was definitely for me.
Rating: 8/10
No review copy was provided, a blueray was purchased from :https://deathofarockstore.com/
