If you're a rock 'n roll star -- where youth is king, both in terms of performers and their core audience demographics -- there are only a few things one can do to deal with the inevitable prospect of aging. The least desirable option is to die young -- whether accidentally or on purpose -- and thus forever cement your youth and legacy.
Others simply follow the path of the rest of us in growing old -- gracefully or not -- and retiring from the biz. By doing that, they don't have to worry about tarnishing their reputation by putting out product that doesn't match the product from or live up to the expectations of the "glory days."
And then there are those who either don't want to stop or, in the case of those screwed out of their money back in the early days of rock 'n roll, have to keep working to put food on the table. Considering their success, I don't think anyone in The Rolling Stones needs to worry about the latter. Yet, even as they proceed through their 60s, they're still at it. And while Keith Richards and Ron Wood progressively look like death warmed over, they, Charlie Waters and especially Mick Jagger can still put on quite a show.
That's readily apparent in "Shine a Light," the seemingly umpteenth documentary about the world famous band. To be accurate, it's more of a concert film than a true documentary, as the bulk of it is made up of footage from two performances of the band's "Bigger Bang" concert tour back in 2006.
Following in the footsteps of accomplished director Hal Ashby profiling the group doing the concert thing back in 1982's "Let's Spend the Night Together," legendary director Martin Scorsese takes the reins here. Despite his presence behind the camera -- and a prologue featuring him in half-panic mode about not having the set list until right before the concert begins (in a sequence that feels fabricated just to have him doing his trademark, hyped-up, motor mouth routine) -- you'd never guess it was the guy responsible for helming cinematic fare such as "Taxi Driver," "Goodfellas" and, more recently, "The Departed" pulling the strings here.
And that's simply because there's only so much you can do with a concert film (save for shoot it in 3-D and show it on giant IMAX screens for a much larger than life experience as occurred recently with the spectacular "U2 3D"). Of course, fans of The Stones will be in hog heaven, not only due to the band's well-known songs and energetic, onstage performance, but also because they know these sexagenarians can't go on forever.
Then again, that point's disputed by an old interview clip -- one of several -- that Scorsese injects between the songs. In old footage, a very young Jagger is asked if he can imagine himself performing in his 60s, and without a beat the rock 'n roll icon unleashes that toothy grin and says easily. It's somewhat fun seeing that and other such nearly half-century old footage of the guys when they were young and, I was going to say handsome, but less craggy is probably more accurate. Even so, it only accentuates the point that, energetic performance aside, these guys aren't spring chickens anymore.
Perhaps sensing that, they and/or Scorsese decided to invite various performers to sing along on some of the songs. From Jack White to Buddy Guy to Christina Aguilera, they do instill varying degrees of youth into the proceedings. And for yours truly, some of the more entertaining moments stem from the band playing lesser known songs, perhaps because they haven't grown tired of performing them compared to endlessly doing the likes of "Satisfaction," "Jumping Jack Flash" and all of their better known staples.
Not being a diehard fan, I found the film constantly in flux in terms of infectious energy, although one must certainly give the guys kudos for still being able to do what they do now that they and their original fans are clearly in AARP territory. Even so, the film never touched and moved me like U2's most recent offering, although it certainly proves that old adage about moss and Rolling Stones. "Shine a Light" rates as a 5.5 out of 10.
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