Even without substantial radio airplay, Iron Maiden became a global juggernaut. Through tragedies and changing times, the band has always persevered in one form or another, and it’s no surprise they remain one of the most famous bands around the globe. This is due in no small part to their imagery and marketing backing the hard and heavy metal. The band’s reputation shows no signs of diminishing, with the group still touring, and this documentary giving audiences an opportunity to learn more about the band, as well as their rampant fandom.
Given Iron Maiden’s legendary reputation in the heavy metal world, films about the band are a given. And this headbanger will watch any of them that come along! BURNING AMBITION (oddly named after an obscure single-only track from the band’s early Paul Di’Anno era, which doesn’t appear in the film itself) compiles tons of archival footage and interview clips, and even brings in interviewee fans who range from folks from war-torn countries to actor Javier Bardem, and even music industry personnel like Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Metal Blade Records founder Brian Slagel, and Public Enemy’s Chuck D. The final result is a mixed bag, but it’s lovingly done and pays a solid tribute to one of the world’s greatest heavy metal bands.
One of the things that immediately sticks out about BURNING AMBITION is the lack of any new interview footage with the band members and their crew. Everything here was clearly pulled from archives, from the band’s heyday to the more recent stuff. The producers of the film clearly had the keys to the kingdom and plenty of material to pull from, and while what they chose to use for this doc was certainly excellent, from concert footage to audio-only interview clips at times, the simple truth is that I’d seen and heard a bunch of this material before. Over the years, the band has put out many concert home video releases, many of which contain “History of Iron Maiden” docs. I got a feeling of deja vu watching much of BURNING AMBITION, but every now and then something did squeak through that I hadn’t seen. It’s also good to see the film doesn’t neglect the early days with Paul Di’Anno and its rough 90s period with singer Blaze Bayley, which are eras that absolutely deserve to be chronicled.
The only “new” material in the doc are some CG scenes (possibly AI) involving an animated Eddie (who the film DOES rightly introduce as a member of the band early on) and the interviews with a wide assortment of fans and fellow industry personnel. The new fan interviews, which range from a young lady in a war-torn country talking about discovering heavy metal for the first time to actor Javier Bardem (I never would’ve guessed this guy was a metalhead!) talking about his love of the band’s music. It’s great to see how Maiden’s music has impacted so wide an array of people around the globe, but I can’t help but wonder if some of the fan interviews and the CG Eddie sequences (fun as they may be) could’ve been excised in favor of more material from the actual band performing or being interviewed. As a result, BURNING AMBITION, despite spanning several decades and showing the filmmakers’ and fans’ love of the group, does feel frustratingly surface level at times.
However, this headbanger was nonetheless impressed by the total package that these filmmakers were able to create with what was available to them. Telling the Iron Maiden story in under two hours is next to impossible; understandably some stuff has to be left on the cutting room floor. But for the most part BURNING AMBITION hits the highs and lows extraordinarily well. As a longtime fan, I definitely found myself getting caught up in the action on screen and the story of this famed band from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, even if I had that “feel like I’ve been here before” feeling on more than a few occasions.
Another minor complaint and missed opportunity: Like an Iron Maiden concert, the film should’ve begun with UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” and ended with Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” There may be legal issues preventing this from happening, however (how much of a budget the filmmakers were working with isn’t something this fan is exactly certain of).
BURNING AMBITION doesn’t reinvent the music documentary. In fact, at times it felt like a doc I’d already seen… because so much of this footage is already available elsewhere. But that said, this film crew knows what they’re doing and clearly loves the band. Longtime fans will appreciate the attention to detail and a look back at one of their favorite bands. Newbies have a great primer that’ll introduce them to some of the genre’s greats. There are more hits than misses here, and BURNING AMBITION comes recommended.