REVIEW: Rocketman, A Stunning Musical Fantasy About Elton John And One Of 2019's Best Movies

Jeff D Lowe5/31/2019 4:47 PM

The Elton John musical fantasy ‘Rocketman’ released this week and we went and saw it…

Jeff (92/100): ‘Rocketman’ is a dynamite musical fantasy with incredible music, stunning visuals, a gritty story and a memorable, Oscar-worthy performance from Taron Egerton. Instead of conforming to a cookie-cutter musical biopic format, ‘Rocketman’ tells the story of Elton John through his legendary music.

Without naming names, the debate over musical biopics has been strong in the movie world over the last year, or so. Showing the musicians make music is interesting, sure, but using their music to show how the musicians became who they are is what separates movies in the genre. With ‘Rocketman’, when they say musical fantasy, they mean musical fantasy, this is not your average musical biopic.

Every song, from “Crocodile Rock” to “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting”, is used as a device to illustrate how Elton John’s life and career played out. Accompanied by riveting camerawork and cinematography, every musical number is memorable. Even if you’re not an Elton John fan, you will be captivated by fantastical ways in which the music plays out on screen. It’s colorful, it’s vibrant and it’s an absolute blast up until the very last scene. (Think about what it would’ve been like for ‘Across the Universe’ to have been an actual good movie)

While it might be a fun and magical music experience, the movie also doesn’t ignore the dark, troubled life of Elton John. The complaints about last year’s big musical biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ centered mostly around how bland and light the story of Freddie Mercury and Queen was in the movie. We didn’t truly get to see Freddie Mercury as a man or his struggles in the movie, despite Rami Malek’s great performance. With ‘Rocketman’, Elton John wanted all of his demons laid out on screen. This deserves it’s R rating for the drugs, alcohol and sex that fueled John’s rise to stardom… including the spiraling downfall he would eventually endure.

I will be absolutely furious if Taron Egerton does not get nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars for his role as Elton John. He not only nailed John outside of the music, but Egerton also did all of his own vocals in the movie. Egerton supplies the movie with his own twist on John and his music (at the request of Elton John) and boy does it work!

This movie packs a punch in every area and it is the musical biopic we deserve. I felt the ending needed to breathe a little bit more amidst its breakneck, but that’s only a minor complaint. My expectations were low when this movie was announced, but I couldn’t have been anymore wrong about it. ‘Rocketman’ is not only one of the surprise movies of 2019, but is firmly one of the best I’ve seen all year.

KenJac (89/100): ‘Rocketman’ is everything you could ever want out of a biopic and then some. Powerful performances, a great script, fantastic use of a music collection, and overall just great filmmaking. It’s a unique and special movie that is grand enough to match the personality of Elton John while also showing you some insight into the more intimate and guarded moments of his life. It also has the base distinction of telling a story people want to hear without it being manicured like a recent film of the same genre.

I cannot say enough about how fantastic Taron Egerton was as Elton John. I had high expectations for his singing after loving him in ‘Sing’, but he blew those away and then some. In addition to being able to replicate such a rare voice, he also acted the absolute crap out of the role. He takes you through Elton’s origins as a pub singer, through his love and loss, his rise to fame and his struggles with addiction while making you feel part of the process with him. The other two performances worth noting are Jamie Bell as Elton’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, and Richard Madden as his manager John Reid. Bell had a great singing moment and Madden was delightfully evil in a very different portrayal of the same man Aidan Gillen played in “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

This film was beautifully shot and seamlessly incorporated singing, some dancing, great choreography and an extremely dramatic story. I’m extremely grateful that Elton himself had some input on the film and also didn’t force much, if any, censorship of his life. This lead to you getting an intimate look at his relationship to his parents growing up, his struggles with love and a very authentic look at addiction. The latter is something that Hollywood has a tendency to sensationalize, but this movie shows addiction as the great equalizer. You could be one of the most popular and rich people on earth, or a random schmo, either way addiction treats you exactly the same. The only aspect I’m docking points for is the stylistic usage of child-Elton, especially in how it applied to the ending.

Whether you are a fan of Elton John, musicals or good movies in general, you will enjoy this film. You’ll laugh and cry and sing along the entire time from start to finish, which is basically the highest endorsement I can give it.

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‘Rocketman’ is Officially Buttered and we will add Trillballins’ review this upcoming Thursday on Lights, Camera, Barstool. Tune in to this Thursday’s Lights, Camera, Barstool for our full review of ‘Aladdin’.

2019:
January: https://goo.gl/forms/tyUaQnv8QgMyHfcf1
February: https://goo.gl/forms/N98XcvIy3SukhrIw2
March: https://goo.gl/forms/4QbmSMj6wK0feMZ13
April: https://forms.gle/uRUg5xPyfsE8bk9B6
May (‘Rocketman’ and ‘Godzilla’): https://forms.gle/cdBDBdjNcHZ93sog6