If I hadn't known going into Gimme Danger that it was directed by Jim Jarmusch, I literally would never have guessed that he had directed it afterwards. Which I suppose isn't a bad thing: Jarmusch's trademark slow, languid style wouldn't really match the story of Iggy Pop and the Stooges, one of the first and most influential punk bands in history. But that raises an interesting question: what's the point of Jarmusch making a documentary if it's not going to be inherently Jarmusch-esque? This film could probably have been made by any number of other documentarians. As it is, it's perfectly serviceable. My favorite parts explored how Iggy Pop took disparate elements of his musical upbringing--his playing drums for black blues musicians in Chicago, his love of avante-garde percussion albums, songwriting limited to 25 words or less inspired by the recommended length for fan letters to the children's shows of his youth--and created proto-punk. Alas, this is a Stooges documentary, not necessarily an Iggy Pop one, so we don't get any of his solo career exploits. That's a shame, too. I would have loved to hear about his exploits bumming around Berlin with Bowie.
6/10
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