It Might Get Loud

There are guitar players, and then there are rock stars. It Might Get Loud is an epic, exhilarating backstage pass into the world of the latter. Over the course of one day, three generations of electric guitar phenoms come together, crank up their amps, and let it roll. Documentarian Davis Guggenheim gives us so much more than an all-star jam session (that alone would make even the gnarliest of rock geeks giddy); he leads us to these artists’ inner sanctums and illuminates the paths each one traveled to forge a sound of his own. We begin to understand how a London studio musician, a Dublin schoolboy, and a one-time furniture upholsterer from Detroit redefined the horizons of guitar playing. Meanwhile, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), the Edge (U2), and Jack White (The White Stripes) seem genuinely to enjoy each other’s company while sharing riffs, swapping stories, and divulging their distinct philosophies of craft. This soulful opus is at once a portrait of each artist and a captivating examination of the creative process. It Might Get Loud does get loud, and in the process, opens up our minds and hearts to a whole new way of listening to and enjoying what it means to rock.