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Iron Maiden are celebrating their 50th birthday the right way. Rather than going to the pub and moaning about how fucked their knees are, the Brits are reaffirming themselves as an institution. They’re currently on one of their biggest ever tours, the Run For Your Lives trek; they’ve announced a two-day festival at Knebworth for the summer; and they lent The Number Of The Beast to a show-stealing scene in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. A busier group of septuagenarians you will not find, and even then they found time to work on a feature-length documentary about their half-century history.
As you’d expect from a band who fill up-to-18-minute-long songs with enough melodrama to overwhelm a thespian, that doc, Burning Ambition goes all-in. It’s being released worldwide and features a host of super-fans, including such famous faces as Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello and Hollywood megastar Javier Bardem.
The film shines brightest with these talking heads, who span generations and have been corralled from all over the world. One of the most powerful moments is when a woman from Lebanon talks about the impact of discovering Maiden in the aftermath of her country’s horrific civil war. Bardem waxes lyrical about the band with the giddiness of a child discussing their favourite toy, while the testimonials from Ulrich and Public Enemy rapper Chuck D demonstrate the music’s far-reaching influence.
Burning Ambition also proves worthy of its cinema release, integrating lavish CGI sequences. The opening animation catapults the viewer through time and space as singer Bruce Dickinson talks about how his band are for everyone, religion and background be damned. All of the classic album sleeves come to life, scored by the band’s songs and endowed with chest-rumbling sound effects
In between it all, five decades need to be condensed into two hours, which is where the cracks show. Dickinson is accused of miming his way through a 90s tour but never offers his side of the story. The impact of early vocalist Paul Di’Anno’s 2023 death is never explored, and another deceased frontman, Paul Mario Day, isn’t even mentioned until the end credits.
Even if it sometimes buckles under the weight of its own ambition, it’s a must-see for ardent Maiden fans. It analyses the band from a global perspective, and it makes the music and imagery of one of rock’s most maximalist forces look and sound even bigger. It’s an impressive candle on a monumental birthday cake.
Burning Ambition will be shown in cinemas internationally from May 7.