Music DVD Review: The Killers Leaving Las Vegas

April 07, 2007

Love them or hate them, The Killers are a household name nowadays. They have just about taken over the world with their dance pop rock musical creations and have no plans of quitting anytime soon. The Las Vegas foursome have appeared on countless magazine covers, played live performances for award ceremonies, and of course have toured all over the planet. Recently an unauthorized documentary DVD was released by Prime DVD called The Killers: Leaving Las Vegas. The DVD does not have any live material by the band but rather interviews of the band and their close friends.

Upon putting the European release DVD into my player to view it, I took a glance at the DVD cover itself. I immediately noticed that unauthorized was spelled "unathorised" at the bottom section of the DVD. Hey, we all make mistakes, I know I do all the time, but you would think that one might pay a little closer attention to the front cover especially when most modern day programs have spellcheck installed (I rely on spellcheck as much as I rely on air).

When the DVD starts up I am at once astonished on how cheaply made the menus were. There was no background music and three selections to pick from. I click play and the unauthorized documentary starts. Right away there is a statement saying that The Killers did not authorize this nor does any of their music appear in the presentation. A narrator with a bit of an English accent begins speaking about the history of the Killers.

The documentary had some interesting facts about The Killers that I was not aware of. I learned how the band was conceived and even learned on how the Las Vegas music scene just is not what it could be. Random interviews with the band from various footage is complied together to give the band's point of view on how they met and how rock star life treats them. There are also a lot of interviews with said close friends of the band who also share their personal moments of the band.

After the 61 minute feature ended I decided to check on the extras. The supposed 'hardest Killers quiz in the world' is hard if you do not watch the entire DVD. The quiz makes me laugh though because if you get a question right a screen pops up saying "OK" only and if you get an answer incorrect you are rewarded with "WRONG". I can tell that this was put together incredibly fast. The interactive digital discography was just small words, no pictures, but did list all of their releases. I myself would rather rely on Google.com for that information.

If you are a die hard Killers fan, then The Killers: Leaving Las Vegas is for you. If you are a fan who likes their music and would like to see live footage of them, then I suggest you pass this up because you will not get what you are looking for. With a title like Leaving Las Vegas, I was hoping for more of a video diary of one of their tours. Instead I was provided with a lot of information about the band which I did actually enjoy. Even though the DVD is "Unathorised" by The Killers, I am sure that if you are the least bit interested in their history, you will find some useful information on the DVD.

Diesel hails from the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. Living the American dream by feeding off of Guinness and Chipolte, this former punk rock super hero has finally slowed down a little and accepted the fact that he is a better listener of music than a performer...