3 out of 5

Directed by: Vlad Yudin

An interesting, if somewhat standard, documentary, framed by 8-time Mr. Olympia champ’s lead-up to another of several hip / back surgeries, while he discusses the years of his rise in the bodybuilding world.

Vlad Yudin did a good job of showcasing the sport of bodybuilding in Generation Iron, both legitimizing the field by showing the dedication of its participants, while also being open to the concept that there’s something tweaked about people that compete at that level of intensity.  Coleman, in his prime, was massive, and fully embodied that intensity, owing to the partially broken state we now find his body in, still pretty big and lean but hobbling around on crutches; as it’s repeated several times by the other interviewed bodybuilders, the guy’s size and conditioning at that time would still be Olympia-worthy by today’s standards, something that’s easy to agree with when seeing his cartoonish size in the training and stage footage interspersed.

But Yudin, as he’s shown in his other iron-focused flicks, isn’t just making a flashy posing vid: we spend plenty of time with modern day Ronnie, still rather chummy and cheerful, following him to 4:30 AM daily training routines and touching base with his wife and friends.  The legitimacy of the person we’re dealing with is clear, as is the always-moving-forward mentality that helped him succeed in the sport, as well as, we’re told, in school and, later, as a police officer.  The other athletes interviewed (Jay Cutler, Victor Martinez, Flex Wheeler and more) all clearly respect the man as well, so while we might not dig too deep into the dark side of the biz or Ronnie’s career, it does still feel like, even with that, Ronnie would be “one of the good ones.”

That said, while Yudin does ask each one of Ronnie’s doctors if he should still be training, this is more of a celebration of the man’s legacy than a biopic; the info we get on his childhood and anything bodybuilding-related beyond being on stage is pretty lightweight, with thoughts left lingering like there’s purpose in them thar words, but really, we’re just trying to make the 90 minute mark.

Definitely not as multi-faceted as the Generation Iron flicks, but Coleman is a worthy figure for some extra study, and his upbeat demeanor makes The King an easy passing of time.