Review: ROCKETMAN is a Vibrant Musical Journey of the Life of Elton John
As a fan of Elton John's music, I was looking forward to director Dexter Fletcher's Rocketman. This movie is a biopic, but it's unlike any biopic that has been made before. The film plays out like a musical fantasy and along the way is weaves together John's life through his music. From the time he was a kid, to the time he became an ultra famous musician who found himself drowning it a life of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll.
When talking about the kind of movie this is, the director said “We have Elton’s songs and Elton’s life story, or a part of it. And it is a fantasy version of real life. It is a true fantasy. So I am looking to create something that will entertain and inform and amaze and do many, many things.”
I loved the music in the film and I also enjoyed the performance delivered by Taron Egerton, who took on the challenge of playing the iconic musician. Not only did he give an incredible performance as an actor, but he surprisingly did a great job singing the classic tunes of John. While he's definitely not as good as John was in his prime, he managed to impress. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up being nominated for all kinds of Best Actor awards next year.
The film was very big, vibrant, and ambitious. I enjoyed the visual and musical spectacle of it, but it was also a little clunky in terms of the storytelling. There was so much of John's life that they were trying to pack into the film that certain elements of the story and his life experiences just didn't flow well, especially with the way they were trying to tell the story.
Now, while I do have issues with the film, I do recognize that this is the kind of biopic that Elton John's life needed. It fit perfectly with his over-the-top wild entertainment style and personality. It's great that they tried something different for a biopic and while it's not perfect I did enjoy certain aspects of it. It definitely didn’t shy away from showing the kind of wild life that John led.
When talking about the fantasy element, John told The Guardian, "some studios wanted us to lose the fantasy element and make a more straightforward biopic, but that was missing the point. Like I said, I lived in my own head a lot as a kid. And when my career took off, it took off in such a way that it almost didn’t seem real to me… But when it happened, it went off like a missile: there’s a moment in Rocketman when I’m playing onstage in the Troubadour club in LA and everything in the room starts levitating, me included, and honestly, that’s what it felt like."
I loved that moment in the film. The movie is filled with great and moving moments like that. If you're a fan of Elton John, the movie is most definitely worth checking out. I'm sure many of you will be very entertained by it. It's unlike any biopic that you've seen before.
