Stewart Copeland may have not been the best person to make a documentary on his own band, but then again he has the inside scoop. He has all of the 8mm footage that he shot during the time period, so it makes sense that he would come back around years later to look back on the time that he was with one of the biggest bands in the world. If someone else had made it there would have been distance, more of a documentary perspective (maybe, say, like Tom DiCillo's When You're Strange). I think Copeland's not-quite-there ability as a storyteller kind of hampers the quality of the film, there is still enough goodie footage that it makes for some captivating viewing.
If there is an overall problem it's just the looseness of it. There's little conflict revealed in what is going on with the Police when they're really hitting it huge until Copeland tells us in his narration. It's the kind of breezy over-dubbing that takes the band at face-value. He does paint a better picture than one might get reading a book about the band, and it's not in-depth. What it does do is provide a window at a time and place, some of the frenzy, the energy of the music. It almost would have been better to let the footage speak for itself. Most of Copeland's observations could be ascertained from what's on screen- the huge crowds and massive fans, the overwhelming quality of the far-out places they travel to to shoot music videos, their rise from small-time to big-time venues- but at least what's on screen is there, and there are some good behind the scenes moments (my favorite is when we see Copeland shooting the music video crew shooting the Police video for Do-Do-Do-De-Da-Da-Da).
If there is an overall problem it's just the looseness of it. There's little conflict revealed in what is going on with the Police when they're really hitting it huge until Copeland tells us in his narration. It's the kind of breezy over-dubbing that takes the band at face-value. He does paint a better picture than one might get reading a book about the band, and it's not in-depth. What it does do is provide a window at a time and place, some of the frenzy, the energy of the music. It almost would have been better to let the footage speak for itself. Most of Copeland's observations could be ascertained from what's on screen- the huge crowds and massive fans, the overwhelming quality of the far-out places they travel to to shoot music videos, their rise from small-time to big-time venues- but at least what's on screen is there, and there are some good behind the scenes moments (my favorite is when we see Copeland shooting the music video crew shooting the Police video for Do-Do-Do-De-Da-Da-Da).