Rush: Time Stand Still

If you're (like me) a die-hard Rush fan, you'll be weeping at the end. Can't help feeling that Lifeson and Lee are not at all happy about the end of touring days for Rush. At the same time one can understand why Peart has hung up his tour cymbals. There is no easy way to play a Rush song, let alone perform like an octopus on speed for 3 hours at 63! Generally the movie is a good insight into the work it takes to put on a show, and the groundhog-day affect it has on the band and crew. Beautifully shot and edited, with clips of the band throughout all their stages (bad hair, dreadful 80s clothes et al). My only "negative" viewpoint: Cant help feeling this "film" was rush-released a bit. (no pun intended) It seems like Alex and Geddy are doing a "see how sad people are Neil? See what you're quitting?". Additionally, they might also have touched on "hey fans, we might have stopped touring, but we will still keep writing and recording!"..but they didn't. I think if you put the three boys in a car together now there would be deadly silence as each one just stares out the window. I don't think we've heard the last of this. Prediction: More albums....the odd one-off show. We shall watch and pray....

I've been a Rush fan since 1985 and I'm always going to want to see a film about the Toronto Trio, however, Rush: Time Stand Still is an uneasy concept. The hook of the countdown to the potentially last ever Rush concert works, but the mix of contributors that the camera eye focuses upon didn't fully animate me. The interviews with Geddy, Alex and Neil are illuminating (and in some instances, very frank), as are the insights provided by various members of the touring crew, but the conceit of shifting to fans unbalanced the film. As nice as the fans seemed to be, I'm not really that interested in a guy who collects every Rush news clipping there is to clip, or the background, motivations, and activities of the founder of RushCon when I could be learning more about the tour from the key players, literally. A documentary entirely about fans set against backdrop of the final tour/show would conceptually work, but the mixed approach is ultimately frustrating, especially as it really is the end of a rock era and presumably the last Rush film that will be made. In terms of content, the backstage preparations footage is excellent, and the final scenes are very poignant, but what is bittersweet is the dynamic that pervades the film. As another reviewer has stated, there is, from counterparts in the band and their manager, a clear sense that there is a strong desire for the show to go on within these quarters, but that it is Neil Peart who is adamant that it is the end for him (and so for the rest of the band). Now, given that they are my favourite band and always will be, I'd selfishly love another 10 Rush albums and for the band to go on endlessly rocking towards 2112, but I am also a realist and so I do not want to see Rush eventually losing it on stage, and I would hate to see the music simplified or compromised, as it inevitably would be given its complexity and the physical prowess needed to perfectly perform it. So, while Neil Peart may have now largely disavowed the influence of Ayn Rand, he still remains doggedly individualistic to resist, and I respect him for displaying such determined free will in the face of peer pressure in his decision to draw the Rush curtain and move out of the musical limelight - the Rush drum parts are not suited to the 60+ age range, and Peart wisely knows (and painfully feels) this. Hence, he clearly recognises that, sadly, time does not stand still. So, in the wake of the magnificent Clockwork Angels album, and two subsequent successful tours that saw the band playing at the top of their game, Rush and Neil Peart go out in triumph, and it would have been good to see this ethos communicated more clearly in the film as few bands ever achieve such a marathon career (or possess such potent enduring creative chemistry). So, in the end the film, while you do not need to make it your mission to see this, it is still certainly worth catching for its insights into how a band with such a long history plays its last note and final cymbal clash, but Beyond The Lighted Stage remains the definitive Rush filmic anthem, and I'm glad I saw this on Sky Arts as I would have been disappointed to have paid any big money for the DVD. The band's fans are a mighty fine group (and their tears do flow), but when I'm in the mood to watch a film about Rush, I just want to hear the words of Dirk, Lerxst and Pratt.

Rush: Time Stand Still is the perfect sequel and the perfect companion to Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage. Beyond the Lighted Stage focuses on the formative years of Rush the human beings and Rush the band, and culminates in the band's remarkable comeback after Neil Peart's tragedies and long healing process. Rush in the life stages and phases of youth, maturity, overcoming adversity, successful career, tragedy, and "rise from the ashes and blaze", to quote from a Rush song featured in Time Stand Still. After watching BTLS in a packed movie house in Vancouver I wondered why the hell isn't Rush in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Time Stand Still picks up where BTLS leaves off. They get inducted into the RRHOF, and their second-to-last tour - the Clockwork Angels tour - lives in the limelight for a short time. But mainly, TSS is about Rush approaching the end of a phenomenal career as a band and especially as a touring band, and how much they mean, and have meant, to Rush fans. Rush as a touring band in the life stage of old age. With old age comes reflection - from the Rush members and crew, and from fans. With reflection comes emotion, and the main emotion that flows and often pours from the film is love. There is also sadness, but it's a sweet sadness, a sadness that springs from love. The end is near, but it's been so wonderful and fun. Their final tour - the R40 tour - is selectively followed right up until the final show, where Rush give a very emotional final exit stage left.

BTLS features fan interviews and examines Rushmania superficially, but TSS digs deeper into the lives of Rush fans by showing - not just telling - their stories of what Rush means to them. For me, this is the best part of the film - the vignetting of Rush fans - from Baseball Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, to the creator of Rushcon, to a man who was brought back to life and health in part by being inspired by Rush, to the Rush memorabiliac who stresses that he puts family first and Rush second.

You can't not be touched by this documentary, Rush fan or not.

Cannot watch this film without feeling what an absolute travesty and a shame it is for Neil. He deserved so much more than the hand he was dealt and was taken from us far too soon. I guess all we can do is be thankful for the time he was here and what he gave to the world. The drum world lost a great and I mean an all time great. Just glad to say I was around at the same time. RIP Neil you were and always will be the best 👍🏻 X

An otherwise engaging look at Rush's legacy as a touring band (as well as its die hard fanbase), there's an inescapable sense of finality weighing heavily on "Time Stand Still". You can't knock Neil for wanting to quit the grind; their level of musicianship and stage production just isn't feasible at an advancing age. If anyone's earned that right, it's the hardest working drummer in the business. Still, it's clear Geddy and Alex don't want to lower the curtain and it's a sad decision. These guys are road warriors; it's the end of an era.

But it'd be unfair to just dwell on the end, and the documentary ably walks us through their influence and the level of joy they bring to millions. This is a touching tribute and one hell of a deserved victory lap.

8/10