You already know I like Linkin Park. I saw the band live last year at the Stade de France in Paris, and again this year at 3Arena in Stockholm. So it will come as no surprise that I immediately jumped at the chance to get tickets for their new documentary, Linkin Park: Unshatter. A huge thank you to the music gods for persuading Linkin Park to show their new film in Brussels.
When the documentary was first announced, fans could sign up for updates and say where they would like to see it. Fortunately, it seems plenty of people picked Brussels, so the film came to my beloved city.
Enough with the introductions.
Unshatter was screened at Kinepolis Brussels in ScreenX. A first for me.
What is ScreenX? You can get a sense of it from the photos below. You get two additional screens that you might not pay much attention to. Yes, at the beginning it looks impressive. The buzzword is “immersive”, but during the film I caught myself rarely looking at the side screens.
You get the main screen at the front, with no special features. Then there is a screen on each side, left and right, meant to show a bit more. Imagine a concert: at the front you see the band performing on stage, and on the sides you see the crowd reacting. Is it useful? That is debatable. Initially I did try to look at both side screens, but once the conversations began and my fight against tearing up started, I forgot about the additional footage.
One benefit, though: this was the first time I sat in the so-called Cosy Seats. You get a table (in my case, to your left), a place to hang your leather jacket, and possibly a bit more legroom, although I am not so sure about that one.
I liked the documentary. I enjoyed hearing from Emily, Mike, Colin, Joseph and the rest about the resurrection of Linkin Park: how they slowly began making music again, the introduction of Emily and Colin, and the first live show to reintroduce the band.
I have already admitted it, but there were moments when I had to fight back tears. It is hard to explain why I got emotional, but I did.
This is a concert documentary made for the fans. It is about the new chapter of Linkin Park, not about the origins. It is about how the band picked themselves up after the tragic passing of Chester, how each member dealt with the loss, and how they managed to come together, add new pieces and write a completely new chapter. I enjoyed it.
Speaking of concerts, I am now blasting the official Linkin Park: Unshatter soundtrack on Spotify almost daily. You can guess which album and band are going to top my Spotify Wrapped at the end of the year. This is probably controversial, but I enjoy Emily’s take on Linkin Park’s catalogue. There is something about her voice… Okay, I am not a music expert, but I like it. The film doesn’t show the whole concert, but there is more than enough to get you excited and emotional.
I still get goosebumps whenever I see or hear the Inception/Intro track. If you don’t know what I am talking about, go to Spotify and open the album or, better yet, find their 2024 relaunch concert on YouTube. Goosebumps!
An important thing.
There is a post-credits scene. More than half of the audience walked out once the credits started rolling, even though Linkin Park were playing in the background. We sat through the credits and were rewarded with a short post-credits scene, the one you see above on the right.
Sadly, there was no mention of Linkin Park returning for Avengers: Doomsday. Then again, who knows.
Anyway, the film is great. My next adventure with Linkin Park will be going through the tour poster book, with delivery expected at the end of October (hopefully).
Get your screaming pants on, folks.
Kindly,
Olaaf
