For a Beatle fan (like me) this 10 hour documentary was both thrilling and just a little disappointing.
Thrilling because all the music has been re-mixed, re-mastered and sounds great, because there are lots of details that, even as I fan, I didn't know, because there's more insight than offered elsewhere into their breakup, and more important, into what held them together.
A good job is done of combining new interviews with the then 3 living Beatles, and recorded interviews with John from many sources, so his views and insights aren't missing.
The last couple of hours go deeper than I suspected, and were quite moving.
On the disappointment side there are a few issues. First, at least for me, much of the first half got repetitive. Not much new insight into the birth or meaning of Beatlemania, just lots (and lots and lots) of concert and TV footage, often of them playing the same songs, sometimes obviously just lip-syncing to records.
Also, their personal lives are left out entirely. I understand not focusing on relationships, etc, but there's virtually no mention of wives, divorces, affairs, children, or how any of that intersected with their music and work.
Last, I was sorry it didn't go deeper into the creation of the music itself. While there are lot of great tidbits from the group and George Martin about specific songs, considering there was 10 hours of program, I didn't get enough of how they worked, how they wrote, how they influenced each other. Nor do we get much of their personal views of the world, politics, etc. And somehow the sense of how much their brief 7 years meant to music and to world culture seems missing, or at least not really explored.
Yet, whatever was missing, I tore through the 10 hours in 2 nights, and would have happily seen more.
Thrilling because all the music has been re-mixed, re-mastered and sounds great, because there are lots of details that, even as I fan, I didn't know, because there's more insight than offered elsewhere into their breakup, and more important, into what held them together.
A good job is done of combining new interviews with the then 3 living Beatles, and recorded interviews with John from many sources, so his views and insights aren't missing.
The last couple of hours go deeper than I suspected, and were quite moving.
On the disappointment side there are a few issues. First, at least for me, much of the first half got repetitive. Not much new insight into the birth or meaning of Beatlemania, just lots (and lots and lots) of concert and TV footage, often of them playing the same songs, sometimes obviously just lip-syncing to records.
Also, their personal lives are left out entirely. I understand not focusing on relationships, etc, but there's virtually no mention of wives, divorces, affairs, children, or how any of that intersected with their music and work.
Last, I was sorry it didn't go deeper into the creation of the music itself. While there are lot of great tidbits from the group and George Martin about specific songs, considering there was 10 hours of program, I didn't get enough of how they worked, how they wrote, how they influenced each other. Nor do we get much of their personal views of the world, politics, etc. And somehow the sense of how much their brief 7 years meant to music and to world culture seems missing, or at least not really explored.
Yet, whatever was missing, I tore through the 10 hours in 2 nights, and would have happily seen more.