In 1976, Martin Scorsese filmed what would become The Last Waltz, a concert documentary chronicling The Band's final performance. Thirty years later, the GoodFellas filmmaker returns to this genre with Shine a Light, his movie about the Rolling Stones.  But by no means does Shine a Light serve as the Stones' swan song. On the contrary, the picture celebrates the music the group has been cranking out for decades and will continue to serve up. You'll enjoy Shine a Light immensely if you're a Stones fan to begin with, but Scorsese does a decent job of introducing uninitiated viewers to the group's enduring sound.

In the fall of 2006, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Ronnie Wood took a bit of a break from their Bigger Bang tour in order to play a couple of shows at New York's Beacon Theatre in the name of charity -- as well as to have a good time. Scorsese (mere months before taking home an Oscar for The Departed) was there with an army of cinematographers to capture the whole experience and put it together as a cinema spectacle. After a few days of figuring out such things as stage design, camera placement, and an ever-changing set list, the show at long last goes on, starting out with a bang with "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and diving deeper into the Stones' repertory of tunes. Eventually joined by such guests as Buddy Guy and the White Stripes' Jack White, the Stones go all out with the sort of manic energy and musical gusto that's long since become the group's trademark.

I'll admit that after being spoiled by Jonathan Demme's concert films, which managed to tell the stories of their subjects (from Talking Heads to Neil Young) through their own songs, I was expecting something a little deeper from Shine a Light. Instead, what I got was a just a concert -- two hours' worth of the Rolling Stones performing their greatest hits and some lesser-known songs. But this is all well and good, for even though I wouldn't call myself a Stones fan, they've made some good music over the years and it's fun to see it performed as well as it was when first pesented. Shine a Light was designed to capture the energy of being at a Stones concert, and in that respect, Scorsese succeeds with flying colors. For myself, though, I wish he would have given me extra motivation to keep watching beyond seeing what song the guys were going to play next. 

In between sets, Scorsese injects some archived interviews (those clips in which the band members doubt their longevity give the performance an ironic twist), and before everything takes place, there's some footage of the director and his crew figuring out the logistics involved in pulling off filming. I enjoyed these segments a lot more than the actual performances. I got tired of seeing some songs drone on for what seemed like forever, but the process of  shooting the concerts was fascinating, as was how Scorsese followed the Stones through the years. On the other hand, Scorsese fails somewhat in replicating the experience of having the best seat in the house at a Stones show. He does, however, make you wish you were there for real, which sort of defeats the movie's purpose. Still, with its steady supply of memorable Stones tunes, there's no shortage of entertainment in Shine a Light. Whether watching Jagger bound all over the stage or Richards show off his swagger while singing "You Got the Silver," it's great to see these guys in action.

While not as artistic as the Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense or as flat-out exhilarating as the Beastie Boys' Awesome: I...Shot That!, Shine a Light gets the job done in terms of reminding us why the Rolling Stones are as popular as ever.

MY RATING: *** (out of ****)

(Released by Paramount Classices and rated "PG-13" for brief strong language, drug references and smoking.)