Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
The Beatles stormed through Europe's music scene in 1963, and, in 1964, they conquered America. Their groundbreaking world tours changed global youth culture forever and, arguably, invented mass entertainment as we know it today. All the while, the group were composing and recording a series of extraordinarily successful singles and albums. However the relentless pressure of such unprecedented fame, that in 1966 became uncontrollable turmoil, led to the decision to stop touring. In the ensuing years The Beatles were then free to focus on a series of albums that changed the face of recorded music.
Ron Howard's documentary benefits from extraordinary archival footage and newly restored concert material that makes it feel genuinely revelatory, especially for fans who've seen much Beatles content before. The touring years angle is a specific and underexplored lens through which to view the band's trajectory, giving it a focused narrative arc. The cinematography score reflects the inherent limitations of restored archival material — impressive for what it is, but not visually distinctive filmmaking per se. Acting is N/A in the traditional sense; the 'performance' of the subjects (interviews with Paul and Ringo, archival Beatles footage) is engaging but nothing beyond the subject matter itself. The ending, covering the retirement from touring and pivot to studio work, is historically satisfying but perhaps too tidy. Novelty is high because the sheer density of unseen or rarely seen footage and the Howard-directed restoration effort makes this a genuinely singular document of one of history's most documented bands.