Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (15)

The volume is turned up to 11 again as the loudest band on the planet - aka David St Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and bass player Derek Smalls - prepare for a high-profile reunion concert after a 15-year hiatus. Documentary filmmaker Marti DeBergi is granted unrivalled access to British heavy metallers Spinal Tap as a new chapter is music history opens.

LondonNet Film Review

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Released in 1984, rip-roaring mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap turned the volume dial up to 11 on the hilariously chaotic British heavy metal outfit, who claimed to being the loudest band on the planet. Their catalogue of hits included Stonehenge, Hell Hole and Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight. Poetic lyricism crescendoed on the track Big Bottom: “My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo/I’d like to sink her with my pink torpedo…”

Such witty wordsmithery attracts a litany of high-profile admirers in this belated and warmly affectionate sequel directed by Rob Reiner. “That’s literature, really,” opines Sir Paul McCartney ahead of Spinal Tap’s reunion concert at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans after a 15-year hiatus. Roving lenses are in the right place at the right time to capture moments of rare candour and straight-faced insight in the run-up to the high-profile event.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is a well-intentioned cover version of one of the finest comedies of all time that seldom cranks the volume knob above six when it comes to full-throated belly laughs and cackles. Reiner’s script, co-written by lead actors Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, trades heavily on past glories. Cameos from McCartney, Sir Elton John and Questlove among others are fitfully amusing. Nostalgic excerpts from the original film accentuate the shortfall in giggles between present and past.

Once again, documentary filmmaker Marti DiBergi (Reiner) and his crew are granted unrivalled access to Spinal Tap’s lead singer and guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Guest), guitarist David St Hubbins (McKean) and bass player Derek Smalls (Shearer). Cameras first encounter Nigel in Berwick upon Tweed where he lives with wife (Nina Conti) and runs an unassuming cheese and guitar emporium. David is strumming in Morro Bay, California in a Mariachi band, while Derek proudly curates exhibits for The New Museum Of Glue in Tooting Bec, including a precious bottle of adhesive milked from turtles.

The group is reunited by Hope Faith (Kerry Godliman), daughter of Spınal Tap’s original manager, who discovers a clause in their contract which explicitly demands another live performance. “She knew a thing or two about hot irons… and when to strike them… but enough of my exposition,” narrates Marti to camera.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is a disappointment, measured against its genre-defining predecessor, but a playful and pleasing diversion considered on its own terms. Guest, McKean and Shearer are evidently having a blast together, older and none the wiser about how to dance to the devil of showbusiness. Chris Addison bulldozes through his scenes as a tactless concert promoter, who suffers from a neurological disorder that renders him unable to derive any pleasure from music. I certainly derived pleasure from Reiner’s picture, though not nearly as much as I had hoped.

– Jo Planter