DVD review
Directed by Liam Lynch
Starring Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Tim Robbins, Ben Stiller, Meat Loaf, David Grohl, Jason Reed, Colin Hanks
Release date 26 March 2007

A rebellious kid, ‘JB’ (Jack Black), runs away from his Bible-bashing parents in Kickapoo, Missouri, in search of fame as a rock musician. Eventually he encounters ‘KG’ (Kyle Gass) busking in California. A partnership is forged and, when they are told about a mystical guitar pick made from Satan’s tooth that brings untold success to its user – a quest begins...

The Pick of Destiny is an unashamed vanity project for Kyle Gass and Jack Black’s Tenacious D – the rock band that the duo developed alongside Black’s movie career – which brings a warped version of the Tenacious D ‘origin story’ to the screen as a rock opera.

Black is such a forceful presence (upstaged only by King Kong himself in recent endeavours) that you’ll know whether you’re going to like or loathe this movie before it even begins. It makes Black’s role in School of Rock seem positively low key.

The plot is simple but it does have a clear storyline, which references the likes of Star Wars, Kung Fu, A Clockwork Orange, Mission: Impossible and a spoof of the THX logo by Ren & Stimpy’s John Kricfalusi. It also has a busload of notable cameos, from Ben Stiller and Tim Robbins hamming it up gloriously to guest appearances by Meat Loaf (as JB’s dad) and Ronnie James Dio (as a kind of oracle) plus John C Reilly (as Sasquatch) and Dave Grohl (as Satan) in the movie’s weirder moments.

The film is supported by a full roster of extras, including a decent making-of, a music video, the making of the music video, the making of the soundtrack album and half an hour of deleted or extended scenes (including a whole lost sequence with a bonus song). There’s also an informative director’s commentary and a separate commentary by Black and Gass that is every bit as lively (and rambling) as you’d expect. Ian Calcutt

VERDICT: 6/10
Subtlety is not a word you could apply anywhere to The Pick of Destiny but it’s a lot of fun and you don’t have to be an ardent metaller to appreciate at least some of the gags.