Billy Idol Should Be Dead review – nostalgic docu-tribute to British postpunk’s rebel

The self-destructive bad boy, now 70, looks back on his life with a humorous shrug in Jonas Åkerlund’s warmly sympathetic film Swedish film-maker Jonas Åkerlund has been attracted to the wilder edge of rock’n’roll and I found myself grudgingly admiring his gruesome true-life death-metal horror thriller Lords of Chaos. So he was probably the right choice to direct this lavish docu-tribute to British postpunk legend Billy Idol, which combines a kind of humorous shrug at his outrageous excesses...

By Peter Bradshaw