Welcome everyone to the latest 2019 catch up review! Here’s one I’ve been meaning to get around to watching for a while as I am indeed a big fan of the music of Elton John. He’s one of my favorite performers and there’s just something about his music that really clicks with me and I like the variety of his output. So when a biopic concerning his life was announced I was pretty intrigued by it and the fact that it would be an R-rated fantastical musical made me even more interested. It was also funny how it was just one of many music based movies that involve the output of a specific band or singer that came out just a couple months or even weeks from each other like Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen), Yesterday (the Beatles), and Blinded by the Light (Bruce Springsteen). I enjoyed the former two well enough and found them solid if not as great as they could’ve been while I was really impressed by the latter. Happy to say though that Rocketman might actually be the best of the bunch. Now without further ado let’s see how high in terms of quality Rocketman flies!
The movie is told from the perspective of Elton himself as he is telling his life story to others in an addiction rehabilitation session which we cut back to every now and then throughout. We see him all the way from his humble beginnings as a young boy named Reginald Dwight who lives in 1950s England with his mother, and grandmother. Unfortunately while his grandmother supports him, his mom doesn’t show him much affection, and his frequently absentee father doesn’t even try nor wants to bond or spend time with him despite Reggie. He does however prove himself to be immensely talented when it comes to playing music on the piano and eventually starts taking lessons at the Royal Academy of Music. After playing at some bars, and playing back up for some American Soul bands he is convinced to write his own songs, put his old life behind him, and changes his name to Elton John. From then on we see his rise as an artist, and the difficulties that take a huge toll on him all with big musical numbers thrown into the mix!
There are plenty of biopics that center on the life of a famous musician’s rise to fame and the hardships they experience yet Rocketman I feel is one of the better examples in recent memory. It succeeds mainly because of how personal the story feels as we see John recount his life-story. I really liked the decision to use the rehabilitation session as a framing device as it shows Elton as something of an unreliable narrator which makes him more flawed and yet also more compelling at the same time. While yes it does contain the familiar beats your used to seeing in these types of stories (the musician’s rise to fame, the family hardships, the struggles, etc.) they are executed very well and further the emotional impact of the story and Lee Hall’s screenplay smartly doesn’t try to cram everything about Elton’s life, and career into one movie and mainly focuses on the personal aspects of his life and the final product works because of it. This does lead me to my biggest issue with the movie though which is that it does feel a little rushed at certain points as some aspects of Elton’s life are skimmed over like his initial marriage with Renate, and the pacing in general is a little uneven at times. Still though it does remain focus on the story at hand and I do appreciate the fact that the movie never condemns Elton’s sexuality or equate it with his downfall and looks into that, and his issues of addiction, and depression in an emotionally honest, and thoughtful light and there are many moments throughout that pack a huge emotional punch, especially in the final act. It’s these elements that I feel make this movie work as well as it does and they make everything all the more satisfying from start to finish.
As stated before what makes this movie stand out from other biopics is that it is a full blown juke box musical with a bunch dance numbers, and fantastical imagery and I felt director, Dexter Fletcher (who weirdly enough served as an uncredited director on Bohemian Rhapsody did a very nice job handling those parts. He brings a lot of flair to these sequences and of course the music itself is great, comprised of many of Elton’s greatest hits while the dance choreography is very lively, and energetic with the “Saturday Night’s All Right” sequence being the stand out in that regard. In terms of visuals well I’m partial to the “Pinball Wizard” scenes that involves Elton playing the piano on a spinning record, while “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “I Want Love”, and “I’m Still Standing Among Others” are used to emotional effect. I also really loved the original song sung by Elton John, and Taron Edgerton in the credits, “I’m Gonna Love Me Again” as it was neat hearing the two sing together. Oh and shout outs to Julian Day, the costume designer for the flick who did a fantastic job recreating the flamboyant get ups of the flashy musician as they look pretty much identical to the real deal and in the case of the devil suit is used for creative symbolism, and imagery. Now as for Taron Edgerton who seemed destined to play this role (just watch Sing, and Kingsman the Golden Circle and you’ll see what I mean), he does indeed knock it out of the park with his performance as Elton John here. He successfully disappears into the role and captures the many complexities, and flamboyant yet also deeply troubled on the inside personality of Elton. Add in some excellent make up, and the fact that Edgerton himself sung the songs very well and here’s a performance that I feel should’ve gotten more attention than it did (that Golden Globe win was well deserved though) and I thought Matthew lllesley, and Kit Connors also did solid work as the younger versions of Elton as well. But the real heart of the feature lies in the relationship between Elton, and his lyricist, Bernie Taupin, played very well by Jamie Bell as the two have a really nice chemistry and it’s nice to seeing them get along and they do have some truly touching interactions with one another. The rest of the supporting cast also does strong work like Bryce Dallas Howard is excellent as Elton’s rather in-affectionate mom, Sheila, (they have a very complicated relationship), Gemma Jones brings a nice sense of encouragement as Elton’s grandmother, Ivy, Steven Mackintosh does well in a difficult yet realistic role as Elton’s estranged and emotionally distant father, Stanley, and Richard Madden does a good job of portraying Elton’s manager, John Reid, as someone who at first may seem like he cares about him, but is deep down very manipulative, and takes advantage of Elton numerous times (a similar plot line that Bohemian Rhapsody did, but I felt this one handled it better as it felt more developed in my opinion). They all hold their own alongside Edgerton who clearly is the star of the picture and proves why he is one of the most promising up and coming acting talents today.
When all is said and done, Rocketman is a extremely well son musical biopic that will not go breaking any fans’s hearts (sorry I’ll stop). It may contain tropes that are common in these types of movies, and it can feel a little rushed at points, but it is a mostly focused picture that showcases Elton John’s life in a compelling, and emotionally honest manner, is cleverly told, has some standout musical numbers, and is well acted all around with an incredible lead performance from Taron Edgerton. It’s my personal favorite of all of these music based movies that have been coming out recently and as a fan of Elton John, and his work I was very much impressed by how this one turned out. If your also fans or even your new to his music I do highly recommend this one as it works as both a love letter to him, and his output, and I feel that it can do a good job getting more interested in his music (not that there aren’t many who are already into it of course). In the end though if we are going to get more biopics like this, well if they’re at least as good as Rocketman then that wouldn’t be such a bad thing now, would it?
Rating: A-
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