Rocketman

Starring: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, Gemma Jones, Steven Macintosh, Tom Bennett, Tate Donovan
Directed by: Dexter Fletcher
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Music
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A blend of reality and fantasy follows the rise of singer Elton John.

Review:

Tim: I absolutely loved the unique approach to the musical biopic that Rocketman took. They looked at Elton John and realized his life was indefinable, a mix of reality with a heavy dose of fantasy. It's a complex life, one that never followed the typical conventions. It was a life about becoming who you really are, even if you look around and realize you're not like anyone else. They took all that and made a movie that follows those same principles. This is a film that feels like its approach and its tone is perfectly aligned with its subject matter. That's the best feature of director Dexter Fletcher's film and it's a reason why this very good movie is so enjoyable.

You have to give so much credit to Taron Egerton. As an actor, his talent and his range are astounding. I marveled at how he transformed himself into Elton John. It's a flashy, over-the-top, incredible performance. Egerton never loses sight of Elton's humanity, about the fragility of his youth and those human factors that drive his larger-than-life persona. It's a performance that has both style and substance and is so memorable. It's not an exaggeration to say that Egerton makes this movie work. I was really glad Egerton won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. His performance is worthy of that. I wasn't very surprised that he was passed over for an Academy Award nomination, but I'm glad of the acclaim he did get.

The supporting cast is especially strong, too. Jamie Bell gave a much more subdued performance, but the film needed a straight man (talking about on-screen persona here) to all the craziness that Elton John and his buddies got up to. In some ways, Bell's performance could have been a bit thankless. However, Fletcher makes sure he gets some emotional scenes. Bell's performance is critical to the film and it's a reason why I liked the movie so much. Richard Madden was fun to see in this slightly sinister role. He embraced this character and reveled in his showing his true colors. Madden definitely adds to the film. I thought Bryce Dallas Howard did a very good job as well. It wasn't a very glamorous role, but she elicited quite a few feelings from the audience. She accomplished what she needed to with her performance.

Now, I do want to talk about my one big complaint, the biggest obstacle that prevented this from being a "great" movie. Another recent musical biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody is an example of a film that did this well. In that movie, you learned about Freddie Mercury as a person AND you gained a greater appreciation for their music by seeing the creative process. It felt like that was lacking here. Sure, we get some early scenes and learn that Elton John doesn't write his own lyrics (I was a little disappointed in learning that). We see the formation of the partnership, but we get too few moments to appreciate the genius. In the best musical biopics, there's a scene or two where you feel in awe of this person (or people) and how they were able to create something so beautiful, so lasting. Elton John has so many iconic, unforgettable songs. We hear a number of them, but they're sung while focused on aspects of Elton's life. We don't go deep enough into how the hell he wrote so much music that people loved. The closest we get is the scene where you see the collaboration on "Your Song". We needed more of that. The film focuses so much on telling us about Elton's roller coaster life that it feels like it neglects a focus on the music. I loved Bohemian Rhapsody because it felt like it balanced both. The balance was off here, and that causes the movie to slip just below the greatness line.

Trust me, I'm a big fan of Rocketman. Using the idea of fantasy in a musical biopic is wonderful and it creates this unexpected free-for-all that spins the biopic on its head. It felt so appropriate given Elton John's life. Egerton is remarkable in his role and the supporting cast is quite effective. The use of Elton's music was superb- I love how he weaved those songs into the events of our protagonist's life. The movie is entertaining and it's a lot of fun. It should be applauded. It does feel like a film that would do better at the Globes than the Oscars. Indeed, it was only nominated for 1 Academy Award- Best Original Song. That's similar to how I felt about the film- really good, should be applauded, but it's not quite on the top 10 of 2019.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Bohemian Rhapsody, Moulin Rouge, Eddie the Eagle