One Direction: This Is Us

I'm 46 and the father of five daughters, the three youngest being in the One-Direction target age: 12th, 8th, and 6th grade. My daughters (including a 22 and 20 year-old) have managed not to go gaga over the Back Street Boys, N-Sync, the Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, and the like. 1D has been a little different, in that they caught my girls' interest and have kept it. My youngest three wanted to see this, and I surprised them on Labor Day by taking them. I thought about just dropping them off, but am glad I didn't. I read a critic's review that basically said that these guys are truly nice, decent guys, and that that comes through in the movie. It does.

I'm a huge Beatles' fan, so for me, much of the movie was spent not only enjoying the music (really, it's not bad stuff) and their humble and charming personalities, but also evaluating the sociological aspects of their "Beatlemania"-type popularity.

Here's what's interesting in the comparison. Unlike the Beatles, these guys are not skilled musicians and phenomenal songwriters. Mainly, they just sing, and they're good at that. What lies under their popularity are two things that also lay under the Beatles': 1) they are very humorous and relaxed (lots of quick, on-the-fly, funny comments); and 2) they're working-class boys (lads) who are really great friends and enjoy each other. With the Beatles, I've always thought that their palpable friendship and fun humor were the factors that made them so magnetic--they enjoyed each other, were great friends, and had fun with each other on stage and off. This is even more true for One Direction, as you don't have the leadership struggle with 1D that was there between John and Paul, nor the building resentment of a George. None of One Direction is trying to become the leader, and all are avoiding being the Justin Timberlake or the Sting. They really care for each other, are great friends, and, most striking to me, are tremendously and truly humble about their success. Along with this, they verbalize many times how each member is necessary, how they'd be less successful (or may not have even made it) had one member been missing, how it was a freak of nature/act of God, so to speak, that they wound up together, and that they'd all be doing menial jobs back home right now (factory worker, fireman, working in a bakery), were it not for their fans making them big (and they're really appreciative of their fans, and treat them well). Last thing on this: there's a segment when they go back home, and we see none of them acting like a big deal with any of the folks in their home towns. That was really refreshing.

Certainly these guys aren't the musical giants the Beatles were--not even close. But just as fun, even to adults? Yes, and maybe even a little more so. This movie, the "Hard Day's Night" of One Direction, was a really fun watch.

Back when I used to watch the original X-Factor these guys were on, but being that boy bands are more miss than hit, at least with my music taste, I would skip their performances. A few years later, after them losing, they are now following in many other musicians' footsteps and releasing a documentary/ concert movie. But, the question is: can this movie convert you into a fan, or is just made for their established audience?

Characters & Story

Of the band you can see Harry, Zayn and Niall are the potential breakouts with Liam and Louis having their place, but not being as charismatic or interesting. The reason for this is three (Harry, Zayn and Niall) all have this sort of appeal in which they seem like they could be the leads. For example, Harry comes off as the sort of modern version of Mick Jagger, though with less drugs; Zayn seems a bit more modern in comparison with him seeming like he would work within a modern emo-pop band; and then Niall seems like your general boy next door, which is his appeal. Together, though Harry and Zayn more so, they seem to get the most focus when it comes to interview segments, seeing their families, or life before fame, than the others.

As for the film as a whole, between songs from their first two albums and interview segments, as well as us seeing them venture around tour stops, that is what makes up the movie. You learn what they did before X-Factor, slightly, and then what happened in the lead up to their audition; you hear about some of the band drama like Louis and Liam not being fond of one another, during their time on X-Factor; and them once thinking of kicking out Zayn; but for the most part you see a strong brotherhood in which it seems together they are far stronger as a group than they would be as solo artist.

Praise

Be it the fact that some members, naturally, have more name recognition than others, it was good, to me, that the people who you'd recognize the most are the ones who got the most screen time. And while I may not be the aimed for demographic, I did like two of the songs within the film. Those two not so great I would want to download them, but I do think when you watch the film, despite how asinine the idea is, you can understand why they are being compared to The Beatles, past them both being British boy bands.

I mean, One Direction seems physically/ visually fit for the times. They are a bunch of tattooed model looking boys, but they aren't cookie cutter per se. More so, they are almost like a PG version of the Jackass crew. And, like The Beatles, currently they are in a phase in which their aim, more so, is mainstream music to appeal to a female fan base, no different from when The Beatles were doing "She Loves You," "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and their other classics. But, the question does remain if the boys' music will grow up and become deeper, or if they simply will just look edgy, but continue to sing songs which are as shallow as a kiddy pool.

Criticism

Let it be known, this film isn't likely to convert you. For one, there isn't really any background into any of the songs to make them seem deeper than they appear, and while you must admire their fans for taking them to where they are, between the songs and who we see of their fandom, you can tell that they aren't trying to appeal to anyone past a female demographic.

But perhaps my main issue is that there isn't much of a narrative when it comes to the film. In other concert films there is usually a build toward something, be it like Kevin Hart's Let Me Explain in which we followed him on his way to Madison Square Garden or Michael Jackson's This Is It which chronicled his preparations for his would-be arena stay. However, for This Is Us we are basically just following them around in a style no better than what fellow British Band Little Mix had when their band went to Japan, with the only difference being that One Direction goes to more places and Little Mix posted their videos to YouTube. Thus making the film, outside the concert element, feel like bits which could have been put on YouTube years before the film, but they were saving it for a movie in hopes of making as much money Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber made with their concert films.

Overall: TV Viewing

Honestly, I'm not even sure why a fan would buy this unless they are the type of fan which likes to collect everything the band ever put out. I say this because there are likely full, uninterrupted, concerts on YouTube and better interviews also within the same site. So, it makes this film seem like just a ploy for cash, more than something really trying to let you into the boys world and give you the opportunity to get to know them and their music. Because of that, I say this is a TV Viewing type of movie. Something which doesn't need to be bought, or rented, for it doesn't have that type of value where it needs to be seen as soon as it is accessible.

A musical documentary following One Direction (a British boys band) on their European tour. They interview the band, their families and crew members along the way and it's intercut with concert footage.

This is basically nothing more than a 90 minute commercial for 1D music but ON THAT LEVEL it's not bad. The members come across as nice, normal guys who just happened to hit it big. They make it clear that they're friends and don't take things too seriously. The concert footage is great--the songs are fun, the band is full of energy and the setups for the concert are incredible. You'll enjoy it if you're a 1D fan and accept it for what it is--a fun piece of fluff.

OK, so I watched this movie as part of a thing I do where I watch the US box office number ones from one year prior and now it was time for the 1D flick. Apart from a few guilty pleasure songs, I don't really love this band like a lot of the screaming teenagers that the movie shows. Still whether we like them or not, there's no denying they're huge right now. Now if this success is to continue, that's another discussion. So I sat back and grooved to some songs I like and learned a little more about them. It wasn't something I desperately needed to know, but since I was already watching it, I ended up just finding out about this. Now as far as the boys go, I can see that this can be quite overwhelming for them and that they are just normal young people looking for a good time. One Direction has become a very loved, but also hate band. Personally I always separate the music from the individual and as far as I'm concerned, they seem like nice lads. So my advice is if you're a directioner definitely watch this, and if you're not, well if you don't mind them, see it just for the sake of actually seeing them as they are and not the product they're selling

Rating: 4,5/10

Obviously a 10/10, love 1d and miss them a lot. also harry can have my heart and zayn's voice is something else