Dio: Dreamers Never Die

Compared to all the other annoying monuments to rock-metal icons of the 70s-80s, Dio has the advantage of standing apart from all the excesses, however much he was actually the eye of the hurricane of the warmed-over stadium hedonism of the time. As a result, we don't face the otherwise typical contradiction where a celebratory documentary tries to keep the performer's brand alive as a salt of the earth and a good man, while at the same time not wanting to neglect the various controversial elements of his career that also made him famous, yet all in some sort of balance that doesn't offend so much anymore but at the same time doesn't detract from the illusion of unboundedness. Dio didn't bite anyone's head off or shove a shark down anyone's crotch, so at least this documentary gives us a relatively focused sense of who did what where and why. Of course, all of these facts are now being distributed by various more or less scary-looking people with grandfatherly appeasement. It's actually hilarious to watch how this infantile goblin in the garb of long-haired degenerates just wants to kill styrofoam Smaug dragons with a cardboard sword. Pimple-popping music nerds par excellence. But honestly, as shallow as his music is, and as much as this documentary is really just a glorified burial mound, I confess that through it I discovered that I actually like Ronnie James Dio for all his juvenile foolishness. (30.12.2022)