Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story

Contrary to what mtv and radio will have you believe, 80's hard rock bands had musical ability behind the image. It is nice to find a story that pays respect to a stand out band in this genre of music.

Def Leppard has persevered through so much adversity that there probably isn't another band more deserving of a movie. Of course there is more to their history than two hours can capture, but resolution was reached even with the events being rushed.

Solid acting made for believable portrayals in various emotion. This is impressive as most of the actors didn't quite resemble the characters they played. This movie would be better suited for at least an R rating due to the wild parties this band is notorious for, but was handled as good as it probably could be in consideration of tv standards.

The perks about having a non-theatrical release is that it presented a lot of new faces that most likely wouldn't get major roles because of the Hollywood bureaucracy that lately only caters to trendy actors and pop stars of the moment. It also brought back another star in Anthony Michael Hall, who played Def Leppard's producer John "Mutt" Lange.

In proving their abilities, this may be the movie that establishes these new actors as the next big wave of movie stars. Also the maturity Hall showcased in his role will hopefully gain him a widely known reputation as a versatile actor.

Overall, this movie was enjoyable and may gain cult status similar to that of This Is Spinal Tap with the exception being that instead of laughing at the band, we are cheering for them. Give me the Spanish archer, I'm outta here! :)