Sid Vicious, aka John Simon Ritchie, was doomed practically from the start of his life... so it seems. He was raised in the desperate lower end of the working class in England, by a single mother whose heroin addiction foreshadowed his own. Sid was full of anger and aimlessness, and was ultimately done in at age 21 by the poison of drugs and an equally poisonous romance. His story is not unlike so many other troubled youths in this world. He would have long ago faded into complete oblivion and obscurity were it not for two things: rock and roll and homicide.
That just about tells Vicious's life story in a nutshell. However, the devil is in the details, as they say. The biopic "Sid and Nancy" gives us a more in-depth and inside look at Sid, his destructively dysfunctional and co-dependent relationship with Nancy Spungen, and the eroding effect it helped to foster in the ultimate dissolution of The Sex Pistols. While no biopic tells its tale without taking artistic license, we do get a feel for the gritty underbelly of punk. We also watch with discomfort the pathetic downward spiral of a young man who was a central member of the whole punk movement and ethic, and who could have had a lot to live for.
At the very least, his pop culture immortality is assured because he was part of the pioneering Brit Punk band, The Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols were only together a couple of years or so, only did one album, and only made it halfway through their first American tour before they imploded onstage. However, the musical and cultural legacy they left behind was powerful, lasting and immeasurable. The other members of the band are still with us and have reunited onstage now and again since 1996; John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon also had his own post-Pistols' success with his group, PIL (Public Image Ltd.)
Unfortunately, Sid Vicious spiraled downward into a haze of drugs, drink and self-sabotage. This was only exacerbated by his draining relationship with Nancy Spungen, an American former prostitute and longtime addict. She was an overbearing person from all accounts, and the other members of the Pistols actually tried everything they knew to get Sid away from her. In the end, their romance ended in her death, and a drug-addled Sid Vicious being charged with murder. He did not last to see the inside of a courtroom, however; he succumbed to a heroin overdose four months later.
Sid and Nancy, like the Sex Pistols themselves, have been practically deified to the point where they are almost like cartoon characters. This biopic, while it does have its flaws, shows us just how human they really were. Kudos to Gary Oldman, who gives an outstanding performance as Sid Vicious. He's riveting to watch. Chloe Webb as Nancy Spungen is grating, overbearing, whiny and not terribly likable...if that portrayal is even reasonably accurate, it's no wonder she was nicknamed "Nauseating Nancy". Given that, I have a feeling Webb nailed it in her interpretation.
God Save the Sex Pistols, always.... and R.I.P. Sid and Nancy, two young people just too out of control to last in this world. Let this ill-fated couple not be idols, but warning signs, to restless youth everywhere.
That just about tells Vicious's life story in a nutshell. However, the devil is in the details, as they say. The biopic "Sid and Nancy" gives us a more in-depth and inside look at Sid, his destructively dysfunctional and co-dependent relationship with Nancy Spungen, and the eroding effect it helped to foster in the ultimate dissolution of The Sex Pistols. While no biopic tells its tale without taking artistic license, we do get a feel for the gritty underbelly of punk. We also watch with discomfort the pathetic downward spiral of a young man who was a central member of the whole punk movement and ethic, and who could have had a lot to live for.
At the very least, his pop culture immortality is assured because he was part of the pioneering Brit Punk band, The Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols were only together a couple of years or so, only did one album, and only made it halfway through their first American tour before they imploded onstage. However, the musical and cultural legacy they left behind was powerful, lasting and immeasurable. The other members of the band are still with us and have reunited onstage now and again since 1996; John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon also had his own post-Pistols' success with his group, PIL (Public Image Ltd.)
Unfortunately, Sid Vicious spiraled downward into a haze of drugs, drink and self-sabotage. This was only exacerbated by his draining relationship with Nancy Spungen, an American former prostitute and longtime addict. She was an overbearing person from all accounts, and the other members of the Pistols actually tried everything they knew to get Sid away from her. In the end, their romance ended in her death, and a drug-addled Sid Vicious being charged with murder. He did not last to see the inside of a courtroom, however; he succumbed to a heroin overdose four months later.
Sid and Nancy, like the Sex Pistols themselves, have been practically deified to the point where they are almost like cartoon characters. This biopic, while it does have its flaws, shows us just how human they really were. Kudos to Gary Oldman, who gives an outstanding performance as Sid Vicious. He's riveting to watch. Chloe Webb as Nancy Spungen is grating, overbearing, whiny and not terribly likable...if that portrayal is even reasonably accurate, it's no wonder she was nicknamed "Nauseating Nancy". Given that, I have a feeling Webb nailed it in her interpretation.
God Save the Sex Pistols, always.... and R.I.P. Sid and Nancy, two young people just too out of control to last in this world. Let this ill-fated couple not be idols, but warning signs, to restless youth everywhere.