Linkin Park’s ‘Unshatter’ Charts a Forward-Looking Path While Keeping Chester Bennington’s Presence Felt

Mark Hoppus of blink-182 sits in the studio alongside Linkin Park in 2024, listening to their latest collaboration. “Fucking hell, Mike.” He is floored by what he has heard.

Following the death of frontman Chester Bennington in 2017, the Southern California rockers had yet to reintroduce themselves to the world — or their new sound, led by vocalist Emily Armstrong. But after hearing her voice (Hoppus asks Mike Shinoda whether it is “made of fucking steel”), he asks for just 30 seconds to interrupt their studio session.

“You guys have to go out and own this shit,” he tells the band. “This is what we’re doing. We love Linkin Park. We’ve been through the hardest times, we’re back, and this is our new direction. We love everything we’ve done in the past, we’re always going to play those songs, and we love our history — but this is what we’re doing now, and it’s fresh, it’s exciting, and it got us all back in the room. That’s a great story and a great reality.”

That could well serve as the thesis for “Unshatter,” a new documentary chronicling the band’s journey back to the stage years after the death of Bennington.

The film grapples with difficult questions: Should they even reunite? Do they need a new singer? Will fans want to see them tour again? And should this new iteration still carry the Linkin Park name? Part behind-the-scenes look and part concert film, it centers on the band’s massive album release show for “From Zero” at a stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, in November 2024.

But perhaps the most notable aspect of “Unshatter” is what it chooses not to show. Fans who see the film when it opens via Trafalgar Releasing on September 30 will find a document that looks back yet remains resolutely focused on the future, following Hoppus’ advice. Bennington is mentioned throughout, but no archival footage of him appears until the end credits.

“We love our past,” “Unshatter” seems to say, “but we are moving forward — and this is who we are right now.”

“The story is us trying to pick up the pieces and eventually being able to do so by leaning on each other for support and encouragement, and eventually becoming triumphant,” Linkin Park band member and director Joe Hahn told IndieWire. “For me, it’s important to show that archival footage at the end because the theme of ‘From Zero’ is to show where things started, but also to demonstrate that even as we move forward, he’s still always part of us — he’s always there. He’s not in the film being interviewed or anything, but his presence is always, always around.”

Hahn is also the DJ of Linkin Park, the musician behind the keys and record scratches that give the band its distinctive blend of genres. He has also served as Linkin Park’s creative director for their entire existence, directing countless music videos for the group and shaping its artistic vision. He made his feature directing debut with the 2014 film “Mall,” but “Unshatter” marks his first feature-length documentary.

The band has spent hours in interviews explaining their comeback story, the discovery of Armstrong (and new drummer Colin Brittain), and coping with the loss of Bennington. But Hahn felt the best way to convey the full picture of what Linkin Park was thinking was to show rather than tell — and he had to be the one to take on that task himself.

“We’re pretty private as well, and being able to have access with the trust from everyone, I don’t think anyone else would have been able to get the access that I was able to get, or the honesty,” Hahn said. “I think if someone else made this film, they would come from the outside, imagine the story they wanted to tell, and then construct all the pieces to fit their narrative. I think that would just be a natural thing to do.”

“Unshatter” begins in November 2022, five years after Bennington’s death. Hahn, Shinoda, and bassist Dave Farrell are in the studio, and Farrell can’t help but feel the track they’ve been working on sounds a little “flat.” Shinoda confesses that unless he can manage vocal gymnastics he isn’t capable of, something is going to be missing. At this point, the idea of reuniting is just a kernel, but the cameras were rolling early on as part of the band’s LPTV YouTube channel. The footage follows them through Armstrong’s first time in the studio, their relaunch show when rumors circulated that Linkin Park had hired a female vocalist, and all the way through the São Paulo concert.

The film is being released through an event cinema model to give it a live concert atmosphere, and the band is also presenting the film in ScreenX, with footage projected onto the sides of the theater, as well as in 4DX for those who want to simulate the feeling of the São Paulo mosh pit.

But fans might be surprised at how reflective “Unshatter” is amid all the energy, and it was just as revealing for Hahn to discover through film how his high school friends — dating back decades — truly feel about this entire journey.

“One of the discoveries I had was finding myself and leaving myself vulnerable, sharing that with my friends in the band,” Hahn said. “The thought of doing that is more difficult than actually doing it. It’s like, how come I didn’t realize some of this stuff many years ago? Part of us being on hiatus was a time of reflection, growth, and shedding some skin, so to speak. That allowed us to be vulnerable in reuniting and getting back to the core of why we did this in the first place — we were kids who just wanted to make loud music.”

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