At the beginning I was a little worried. The documentary starts off in a suspiciously congratulatory fashion when describing John Mikl's rise to stardom but thankfully it becomes brutally honest and intimate once the first leg of his career is over.
Mikl's fall from super stardom and the problems in his personal life are given enough space to really get a sense of him as a person, and not just as a character, which is a trap some other documentaries have fallen into.
His long return into the limelight, a more than a decade long comeback tour of sorts is easily the most entertaining part of the film. If you've ever been on stage or on tour with a band, especially a smaller, rather niche one you can immediately relate. It's a very emotional section, one moment you get a lot of laughs out of the weird band side projects like the punk rock outfit "Thor and the assboys" the next you are worried about Mikl's health after he suffers a stroke. Through all this he's never cynical, never too self-aware that you would think he's just playing a character for the camera and despite some of the more ridiculous outfits and ideas you never make fun of or look down on him. He has a dream, he is who he is and whether he's playing in front of ten people at someone's house party or in front of thousands at a festival he's a born entertainer and an amazing frontman.
The last third is still pretty entertaining, full of tour troubles and interesting characters, echoing other recent rock documentaries like Anvil but the middle takes the cake for me.
I came in knowing John Mikl mostly from his 80s B-movie rolls (that I would have loved to hear more of) and not being a fan of his music, I left appreciating this charming man and everything he has brought into the world. At the end I just wanted to give him a hug.
May you live long Thor!
