Davie dreamed of having a football career but when that is over due to an injury he gets involved in promoting gigs in Dundee with two of his friends. Ending up with debt owed to Fergie a gangster he must pull off his biggest scheme yet with the Iron Maiden gig!
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Based on the early years of director/writer Dave Mclean and how he got started in the music business in small schemes, which then built up to Iron Maiden playing in Dundee in 1980. That's in Scotland just incase people don't actually know that.
I had no idea about the backstory of the film before heading to the cinema to watch it. That isn't always a bad thing though and can often result in finding hidden gems. That was not the case with this film unfortunately it was just rather flat with the majority of aspects. The story got a little bit stale in a short space of time, when watching the smaller gigs and it just felt very repetitive.
Davie didn't really come across as a very likeable guy either which is difficult when you should really be rooting for him. I guess the gangster side of Dundee felt too much like the mafia in New York and just felt a little bit off in a way that I cannot really describe very well. It just didn't feel very real, felt just forced for the film and nothing else.
With his friend Scot who will pretty much do anything he tells him to, not the brightest that is for sure. Putting himself into tough situations doesn't seem like a problem at all. Then the other is John who is certainly in a very different situation being married and owning his own home, not forgetting that Florida holiday fund that he keeps dipping into to save them from having bones broken or even worse being murdered.
The one thing I did like though was seeing Dundee on the screen and different places, especially considering the venue used in the film for the Iron Maiden gig was the same one they actually played at. I felt as though more of a build up around that and more depth would have increased my interest.
A slightly below average film that at times did have some amusing moments but was just missing some spark to make it a good film. Which was a shame given the story as it could have been interesting if a very different approach had been taken. Even with that though I did think Conor Berry was impressive on what is not only his film debut but his only film at this point. Could certainly be one to watch out for over the next few years.
