Paul McCartney’s documentary is the perfect encore for the new Wings book

Before the mysticism of Paul McCartney has been revealed in upcoming biopicswith Paul Mezcal playing the former Beatles star, Prime Video’s new documentary, Man on the Run, is here to tell the true story of Mack’s other band, Wings.

If nothing else, Man on the Run serves as a visual aid to the recently published oral history, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Runpublished in November 2025.

For those who have read the book, The Man on the Run may seem redundant. Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run is a page-turner, and many of the words (mostly taken from interview transcripts) sound familiar.

What is worth watching are the archive footage. Plus, McCartney talking about events adds a new layer than just reading words on a page, especially talking about his late wife Linda.

Man on the Run doesn’t try to reveal anything juicy that hasn’t been said before. It may be a little too light on its feet, but it’s still a worthy watch for all McCartney and Wings fans.

Paul McCartney: The Man on the Run Review

At this point in his career, McCartney is regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. However, it is easy to forget that this was not always the case.

They blamed him a lot for The Beatles‘ termination. His first two solo albums, McCartney and Ram, became classics only on the strength of the years.

Because of its brevity and the fact that he had to be selective about how much he could cover each subject, The Man on the Run seems like McCartney’s way of somewhat clearing his name from allegations of the Beatles breakup.

It’s a tight line to heel, considering half the Beatles are dead. Luckily, McCartney is spreading nothing but love in the manner of the late John Lennon, and Lennon’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, serves as the third party in the split.

McCartney won’t live forever, despite his stage presence still reminiscent of a man four years his age, and he looks back fondly on his post-Beatles work.

He’s obviously very involved in the documentary, but he seems to be as honest as possible. Perhaps the biggest reflection he does, aside from anything with Lennon, is his arrest in Japan, which effectively marked the end of Wings.

It received a lot of criticism at the time. The late Danny Laine also explains the disbandment of the band after this incident. It helps take away any worries about drama.

Remastered recording

The archive footage itself is not as clean as some of the recent Beatles documentaries. Still, there’s always an appetite to see tapes of old performances when McCartney was at the height of his powers.

His voice has always been one of his strong points, dating back to the early Beatles days with songs like “Long Tall Sally” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” However, Wings was when his voice fully came of age. This is proven by parts of him singing “Jet” or “Silly Love Songs” in Man on the Run.

It’s also surprising to see how many recordings of smaller moments there are. Man on the Run isn’t shy about showing McCartney with his family in the ’70s. It’s probably a blessing for his family too that he has footage like this out there.

Something Man on the Run has in common with The Beatles: Get Back shows McCartney’s mastery as a musician. In Get Back, one of the highlights of the eight-hour documentary series is when he created “Get Back” out of nothing while playing his bass.

Man on the Run features studio recordings and demos of some songs. While more of this footage would be welcome, the bits we do get are still satisfying. And then seeing the songs come to life from the studio to the stage (as they show with “Silly Love Songs”) is the cherry on top.

Where it could have been better

There is always room for improvement. McCartney has worked for years to get into the fans’ good graces. Man on the Run is very selective in what it shows.

Again, the documentary follows the same story as Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run. Of course, oral histories can delve deeper into each project, and a 115-minute documentary has limitations.

However, in the beginning, there is a lot of emphasis on the breakup of the Beatles and on the first two solo albums of McCartney. Yes, they are crucial to the formation of Wings, but this almost makes the argument that two documentaries could have come from this.

Perhaps the solution would be a documentary about McCartney’s loneliness and the first few albums after the Beatles, and then another about Wings that really got into the nitty-gritty.

Documentary is light on these Wings albums

There are a lot of gaps left for the book to fill, especially in the second half of Wings’ run. Man on the Run is very light on Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed ​​of Sound, City of London and Return to the Egg. Even the heavily bootlegged One Hand Clapping (recently discovered and released by McCartney) is only mentioned in passing.

It’s true that none of the last four albums in Wings’ career were as notable as Band on the Run, but that makes them all the more interesting to chronicle.

The story of Band on the Run has been told before, and there isn’t much new in this iteration other than the story of Paul and Linda McCartney being robbed while recording an album in Africa. Even then, the biggest thing going for it is that Morgan Neville visualizes the story using photographs and other means.

It’s a tactic he uses throughout Man on the Run, presumably when there was no archival footage. This was clever, because it brings the stories to life rather than showing the talking head.

Should You Stream Paul McCartney: Man on the Run on Prime Video?

While The Man on the Run isn’t groundbreaking, it’s a good watch for all McCartney fans. Above all, it’s a companion piece to Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.

This is a blessing and a curse. Much will sound familiar to oral history readers. This is because many of the interviews were probably used for the book as well. For readers, the documentary serves as a glorified abbreviated visual aid.

Neville has an ear for music, allowing McCartney and Wings’ music to transcend viewers from every segment. Aside from the concert films, Wings’ music has never been better represented in a movie or TV show. And that’s the most important thing — music.

McCartney always wanted to write “Silly Love Songs”. Some, like “Maybe I’m Awestruck,” are incredibly dense, while others, like “My Valentine,” are less so. Man on the Run is the documentary equivalent of My Valentine. It’s not nearly as deep as it could be, but it’s fun enough to watch.

Grade: B

https://vvv.youtube.com/vatch?v=pBcllNrI0u8

Man on the Run is playing in select theaters and will be available to stream on Prime Video on February 27.