Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster is a documentary about the heavy metal band Metallica during a period of internal crisis. Filmed mainly around the sessions for the album St. Anger, it began as a record of the band at work but became something more personal once bassist Jason Newsted left in 2001. Facing tension that had built up over roughly two decades, singer and guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist Kirk Hammett bring in a group therapist to help them talk to each other. The film follows them as they search for a new bass player, write and record material, and try to repair the relationships that hold the group together.

Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky directed and produced the film. It sits between Berlinger's Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Alongside Hetfield, Ulrich and Hammett, the film features Robert Trujillo, Newsted and Dave Mustaine, all appearing as themselves.

On IMDb the film has a rating of 7.1/10 from around 250 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 7.6/10 from 122 reviews, so critics rated it somewhat higher than the sampled audience did. At 140 minutes, it is a long, close look at a band working through conflict while making an album, released in 2004.