Closure

"Closure," an extensive video compilation released in November 1997 by Nine Inch Nails, contained two tapes. The first tape follows the infamous group around on a 1994-96 tour. The second tape contains all Nine Inch Nails videos ever produced, except for one particular video, for the song from the Oliver Stone movie, "Natural Born Killers." (The name of this song is called "Burn.")

The video segments are sometimes too disturbing and uncomfortable to watch (the videos for "Sin," and "Happiness In Slavery" come to mind.) The rest of the videos, as bizarre as they may be, are slyly connected by the director by interesting, if not partially disturbing segments.

At its best, tape two of "Closure," seems to have been produced without any compromising of aesthetic goals. At its worst, "Closure" proves to be too sickening to be enjoyed. Keep the remote control handy, because you'll want to fast forward through a few of the clips. Some "watchable" videos include "Head Like a Hole," "Down In It," "Wish," "Eraser/Hurt/Wish (Live)," "March of the Pigs," and "The Perfect Drug."

Even if you can stomach extremely disturbing stuff, this one might cause a second or two of crawling skin. Enjoy, NINnies.

I was really scared the first time i saw this film, well the second film i watched them the wrong way round, but even so they are still visually stimulating and mentally mind-numbing. Definitely worth there money and weight in gold. The first video is a treat a collection of NIN videos for the not so MTV friendly world, including tunes like head like a hole and wish. The second is an assault of violence giving a sneak view of the self destruct tour, which is just amazing for those pour NIN fans that haven't seen them live. Roar untamed hedonistic power.

Normally, I don't write another review of a film or a tape I have already reviewed, but I believe that I gave an unfair review of this tape set from NIN. I was not a NIN fan at the time I saw it, and therefore, was unable to appreciate the power of it's art. I write this second review because I have changed my opinion about this tape set, and I wan't to say what I really think of it.

"Closure" is in short, a masterpiece! It is a two-tape set that contains a documentary about their tours(a very hyperkinetic one too, but you expect that from NIN), which is also very funny and very revealing at times. I didn't really care for the "Jim Rose Circus" part, but that's just my personal opinion about "The Jim Rose Circus". It doesn't affect my opinion about NIN.

The centerpiece of the tape set of course, are the music videos! Here is where the music of NIN and the imagery heightens the power of their music to an art form. We get to see all the videos from "Pretty Hate Machine", "The Downward Spiral", a few live numbers, and even a few from the notorious "Broken Movie".

People like to talk about how graphic this video set is(which I did too), but those who like to talk obviously have not sat through "The Broken Movie", which is so violent, that Trent never bothered to submit it for release. Also, the music gives the images a kind of de-sensitizing feel to them.

I was a little disappointed that "The Broken Movie" was not included, because that was the epitome of Trent Reznor's violent, shocking art. He never made anything quite like it, and probably never will again. All of the videos from "The Broken Movie" are included(except "Physical", the most graphic video of the movie), but they don't flow through well. They worked much better when they were combined with the movie. Here they seem disconnected, and look like separate videos that were meant to be seen separately(which they weren't). Oh well, at least we have them.

Best of all though, the videos are unedited, meaning they were not butchered and tenderized by censorship. We get to see the music videos the way they were meant to be seen! "Closer" can now be witnessed without all the silly "Scene Missing" cuts, and we get to see a REAL music video for a change. My personal favorite video is "The Perfect Drug", which just began to enter the music of "The Fragile".

Like I said, I write this review because I change my opinion about NIN.

As a fan who has never seen NIN live, this thing was good for me to get. It has on one side, all the videos, and all the live stuff on the other side. It's crazy videos that have never been shown on TV (Happiness in Slavery) sometimes make you sit there and wonder what was happening in the minds of the video producers, and the live footage makes you wonder how many more times Trent can throw himself into people and musical objects without hurting himself.

The best parts of this video though, are the David Bowie parts. If you've never heard the version of "Hurt" sung with the two of them, you're definitely missing out. Alongside Johnny Cash's cover, it's the best version of this fantastic track.

A must buy for any NIN fan.

This video is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

This man (Reznor) shows us the human nature like nobody else does. He can make you feel anger, happiness, hate and love all at the same time while he is at the stage. This is what an artist is, a man that knows and understands the violent, sick, compassionate and pathetic nature of humans and creates something beautiful out of it. You can see through that man's eyes while watching this video or listening to his music and if you feel the connection with at least a small part of it, you will understand what a great artist he is.

This video is sometimes shocking and while the sound quality isn't that great (or maybe that adds to its favor) this is still a must have for any NIN fan.

If you are one of the people that believe good music is what is shown in MTV most of the time and if you prefer not to know about the "ugly" part of the world to be comfortable with your life, don't watch this; but if you are a person comfortable with what we (humans) are and you are not afraid to feel you must buy this, you won't regret it.