Movie Review: Wired For Chaos

Wired For Chaos is a film about Harley Flanagan, a Hardcore musician whose roots start from the enclave of the Lower East Side to a proud musician, husband, and father. The film isn’t mostly about his music shockingly, it is about how someone grew up in a troubled life filled with violence, depression, drugs, and abuse, but somehow, he still managed to persevere and become a fantastic man with a fiery personality. The movie starts with his early years (obviously) talking about how he was raised by a single mother and his struggles of living on the lower eastside of NYC during the 70s, it was filled with gangs, drugs, and other stuff that I am not allowed to discuss on a newspaper, he talks about this experience with some form of nostalgia but with some disdain as it was a rough time. Then, it finally gets to his introduction to music with his aunt’s band, The Stimulators. At the ripe age of 11, he became a drummer, which would finally turn into the founding of the hardcore band The Cro-Mags. Alongside great
visuals and its stunning story, there are great interviews/stories from Harley’s friends like Flea, Ice-T, Henry Rollins,
members of the Bad Brains, Jocko Willink, and many others that give more depth and character to him. The movie centers more on Harley’s trauma and how it affects his present life, on how he had to raise himself in a world that was constantly against him. He confronts his past hoping it can bring him peace and bring others
a lesson. Even though he is in a better spot now he still is in a battle with his prominent PTSD. Overall, the film is a new and refreshing watch, with no filter every viewer is entitled to a raw, grunge-esc, and serendipitous experience.