Ozzy Osbourne: No Escape from Now (2025)

I think most young guys around high school start discovering heavy metal, and I was no exception. The blistering riffs of bands like Metallica were the most popular, but I grew up listening to the classic rock stations in Southern California, and the airwaves were overlaid with Black Sabbath every day. I grew to love Ozzy mostly thanks to the MTV reality show The Ozbournes with Ozzy’s insane incoherent rambling, and we even shared a penchant for Chipotle burritos.

Upon hearing that Ozzy suddenly passed away a few months ago, I, like most, started diving into his life’s collection of work. And found so many songs that I loved, and a lot I never heard. Going through both Sabbath’s and his solo discography was so enjoyable and really made me want to know more about him.

I ended up doing a deeper dive on his history, growing up and his early metal days. But after the TV show era, I never really knew much other than he did some stuff here and there. Like most older rockers, making the rounds playing their hits. I do remember the album he put out within the last few years doing a song with Post Malone too, but not much else.

With most documentaries, they end up being feel good pieces that just “play the hits” and don't really dive too deep into the uncomfortable. But that's not Ozzy and that's not how he does things. Ozzy is no stranger to the cameras being right up in his personal business. He’s one of the most real and raw there is.

This documentary basically follows the last handful of years of Ozzy’s life and really chronicles the ups and downs. Mostly the downs. But in a very human, raw and beautiful way. Seeing Ozzy struggle, and seeing those closest to him explain and shed tears at the man they love withering before their eyes is truly heartbreaking. This is not an entertainment movie, it's a beautiful send off piece about watching a loved one experiencing the end of their life. And it's handled in a graceful way.

Ozzy knows. Deep down, especially near the finale of the film, you can tell, he knows he’s done. He holds on to the very end, puts on a show for his fans that he didn't have to, but one that he did have to. Because that's who he was deep down. He was born to be that person. To give it all until the end.

And maybe that's why this film hit me so hard. Because as I just turned 40, and I see this rock legend, someone who feels like a fairy tale expresses the same feelings and doubts and struggles I personally deal with myself… It hit close to home. Too close.

The indecisiveness. The wanting to “just get it over with”. The wanting to give up. The “why even bother?”. Everything Ozzy talks about, I have felt myself, and as he forces himself to do the things he might not want or feel like he can do, he comes alive. He is energized by the music he creates, and that resonated with me deep in my core.

This documentary does nothing more than to truly show how Ozzy really was the best showman for heavy metal there ever was. He was a performer to the very end.