The titanic metal-masters and Lords Of Riff themselves have put out a 3D IMAX movie with a worldwide release in cinemas! Go on, whack your television on, there's drummer Lars Ulrich talking on any number of mainstream radio and talk shows. Crazy isn't it? For some the very idea that a band with such an underpaid and under-exposed beginning could come all this way and finally sit amongst the listings at your local multiplex is nothing short of mindboggling, but in a really incredible way. There's also an entire other subset of people who view Metallica as something of a misnomer; a group of ageing rockstars who peaked in 1991 with their Enter Sandman-fronted Black Album and have been pursuing various career-paths ever since. A complete tonal shift into cigar-chomping hard rock here, a psychotherapy-documentary there, a collaboration with a full symphony orchestra in the middle and a return to form with 2008's Death Magnetic at the end. Throughout all the band have endured from critics and fans alike, the fact has always remained that they do what they want, whenever they want. With great power comes great responsibility, and with truckloads of cash comes the ability to do whatever the hell you fancy. I'm fairly sure Metallica could have etched 'metal up your ass' onto the moon at this point, but instead they decided to funnel $18 million of their own cash into a project that has emerged as half bone-shatteringly-heavy gig, filmed professionally with swooping cameras and eyeball-searing pyrotechnics, and half existential narrative set in an apocalyptic city where protagonist Trip battles looters and a hammer-wielding horseman. Now, does it appeal to everyone from your mate who barely knows his Enter Sandman's from his Call of Ktulu's, to the most hardcore fan who recalls in disgust at anyone not knowing their Ron McGovney's from their Cliff Burnsteins? In a pretty big way, hell yeah it does, and here's a bunch of reasons why Metallica's first dabble into 3D technowizardy is a resoundingly successful one.