Rocketman Review
- Half Glass Guy
- Jun 1, 2019
- 4 min read
Elton John: "I never thanked you, Bernie."
Bernie Taupin: "No. I love you, man. Always have, always will."
Coming off a highly successful biopic surrounding Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody," Hollywood has decided to form a genre and start making films surrounding various musicians from the past to even the present. "Rocketman" is a MUSICAL biopic that surrounds the musician Elton John. The film celebrates Johns youth and struggles through music and dance to help boost an overall mood of optimism for the musician, who lived life as wild as this fantasy. "Rocketman" does exactly what you would expect, plus utilizing John's music when the film dips in areas. It is not a perfect biopic, but it is definitely a suitable and cherishable fantasy story filled with life and colors, the way Elton would want it.
"Rocketman" is about the life and career of Elton John (aka Taron Egerton), and specifically explores Johns life at the very beginning as a child through the 70s and 80s when he was a drug addict, sex addict and an alcoholic. It follows the theme of how fame can destroy oneself due to the effects of fame. And in Johns case, he was a homosexual as well, which added to his personal challenges because he wanted to be open, and was, but ended up receiving more criticism than love. "Rocketman" examines some of the darkest moments in Johns life with vibrant musical numbers and dances, along with colors to show how, potentially, John saw these events.
Lots of brilliancy is being displayed here and I would like to start with Taron Egerton. He nails the performance for being Elton John. Including performing his own singing and dancing, while wearing heavy make up and costumes, as what John did. Egerton easily gives his best performance and hopefully leads him to some award recognition, and if there is a reason to watch "Rocketman" it is his performance. The whole film is based on Johns early career and when he slowly went down the dark route, Egerton dives into the darkness and becomes John in his lowest points in his career. He carries the film overall and does a tremendous job through this performance.
As I stated earlier, prosthetics are a huge point in the film as well. While watching, one will notice the make up on Egerton and how he ages and how when John was using drugs and alcohol, his face becomes more and more droopy. Along with John, the side actors do a great job of creating a sense of character with their performances. But even them, they have make up changes over the course of the film, where it adds to the continuity of the story. It adds a sense of believablity for the audience, plus it is subtle enough where if one gets immersed into the experience, they won't tell the difference, and that is when the filmmakers did their job correctly.
Since this is a biopic of Elton John, the music is going to be a huge highlight of the film. And the film is a musical, they take Johns songs and add a some flair and dance sequences to create the musical that is describing his life. These sequences start out with a bang in the first half hour, but then slowly become deary as his life spirals downward. Dexter Fletcher, the director of the film (who also helped finished the film "Bohemian Rhapsody"), handles these sequences with exaggerated camera movements and set pieces. It is a fantasy, but also tells the story. Fletcher tells this fantasy the way you would hope a Elton John biopic would be. Plus, he utilizes wide angle shots to see all of the moving and dancing the actors have to do. Its brilliant cinematography showing the color spectrum and treating such a dark tale in a lively fashion, it makes the experience that much more compelling.
With all greatness comes some of its faults as well. Not everything in the film works, and specifically the reasons I stated. With so much flare and colorful approaches, it creates a swaying of moods that can sometimes feel contradictory. Along with those swaying moods is the pacing. A good friend of mine pointed out that the film can feel long at points because it is a biopic and wants to tell a story of Elton John. While the first 30 minutes seem essentially perfect, the film then becomes sluggish after that point, and with the beautiful cinematography, acting and direction, it all can sometimes hold up the film, but sometimes not hold up the middle portion of the film.
"Rocketman" starts out with a bang and lets you know just how bright the film can be at points. But as the film becomes less about the fantasy and more about Johns struggles, it can become sluggish. There are many moments where characters are just sitting around and talking, which can maybe push people away from the experience, or in my case, cause a sense of slowness. And while yes the conversations can serve their importance, it is still slow and long because of it. The music and dancing slow up, but there are still some memorable sequences, especially one surrounding the song "Rocketman." That sequence is one I definitely recommend looking out for if you watch.
I think "Rocketman" does Elton John a service, painting the picture that his career was not easy, especially towards the beginning of it, but displays the life of Elton John just the way he approached his life. Loud and proud. There is a unique feeling watching the film because it is told differently than how most biopics approach telling a life story. It is full of excellent and celebration for Elton John, basically writing a love letter for his music. It does become slow at times, which did end up becoming a problem. And the ending is adequate, but not like "Bohemian Rhapsody" where it ends on the highest note possible. Is there a sense of happiness and hope? Yes, but to a degree. There are problems, but also many highlights in this fantasy biopic, and the biggest one is Taron Egerton. "Rocketman" does soar into the stars and has a rough journey in spots, but ends up landing on a good note.
Rating: B+ to A-
Run Time: 2 Hours 1 Minute
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