Iron Maiden
Burning Ambition
Running time: 106 mins
Director: Malcolm Venville
I would have never predicted that a film on Iron Maiden would be screened in movie theaters internationally, just as I would have never guessed that the English heavy metal band would be inducted into the 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With all the undeserving, non-rock n’ roll acts that have been inducted into the Rock Hall over the years, is Maiden’s entry really that big of a deal?
Burning Ambition, released last week is a documentary that has a suitable amount of retrospective footage going back to when the longhaired hard rockers cut their teeth playing small gigs in East London’s pub-rock scene in the mid-70s. During that era, which is adequately documented in the film, bassist and founding Iron Maiden member, Steve Harris, explained how the punk and new wave sound and fashion, made it difficult for his band to be taken seriously by A&R music business types. They wanted shorter hair and spiffy clothes. Harris (a road sweeper by vocation at the time) and his mates weren’t having it. The band stayed the course and kept playing to crowds who were hungry to experience something exciting to the senses. Something heavier musically. After the 1980 debut of Iron Maiden and 1981’s Killers singer Paul Di’Anno was replaced by vocalist Bruce Dickinson. At this point the film gets really interesting.
In the timeline of the film there are a few things that are left out, things that perhaps would really matter to Maiden musicologists. There are many things included that have been seen before. Yet, in less than two hours, the story of the band is well-told.
The behind the Iron Curtain footage of Iron Maiden playing concerts in war-torn Poland and performing concerts with a full-stage production is an impressive part of the film. During the then-ongoing Cold War, there was a governmental line between Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe and the democratic West. Maiden touring of Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia was a brave and noble feat, which gave the people there something they had not experienced.
The film documents the relentless touring that would lead to exhaustion. Terminal velocity, a term Dickinson used in the film to describe the five-year record/release/tour/repeat cycle would prove to be problematic.
Fights, creative irreconcilable differences, lineup-up changes, cancer, retirement, as well as staying power are well-covered in the film.
A big draw of Burning Ambition is the commentary from the fans and peers. Scott Ian (Anthrax), Tom Morello, and Metal Blade Records founder Brian Slagel describe their experience as longtime fans of the band–more than peers. Actor Javier Bardem’s commentary was excessive and, at times, cheesy. The most moving testimonies are those of the fans, who are from every walk of life.
My biggest takeaway and what this film drives home is the love and respect between the band and its legions of fans: connective tissue that can’t be severed and sold-out.