Rocketman review – A biopic with a true Elton John twist!
“John’s music fits into his own personal story perfectly”.
The biopic is a genre of growing popularity, more-so with the over-whelming reaction to last year’s Bohemian Rhapsody. This year, we are introduced to a biopic that really takes in the DNA of the person it is about: the one and only Elton John (played by the gifted Taron Egerton). As a film,this Elton John biopic, Rocketman, not only takes the piano man’s flamboyant way of life on board, but also honours his most private moments and personal feelings. Welcome to ScreenHeads‘ Rocketman review…
The movie starts with the childhood years of one Reginald Dwight, who grows to become one of the most influential artists in the world, Elton Hercules John (if you weren’t aware of the Hercules part, don’t worry, you’re not alone!).
We watch John’s life rise into stardom almost over night with the help of his songwriter/best pal Bernie Taupin (played by a surprisingly brilliant Jamie Bell). His life soon quickly spirals out of control as he is caught up in drugs, alcohol and depression.
Now, first things first – when we say this is an Elton John biopic, it IS an Elton John biopic. The way the musical pieces are performed and even the camera techniques at times make you feel like you are in a theatre – if this isn’t turned into a West End hit within the next few years, I’ll be surprised. The scenes that show hits such as ‘Tiny Dancer’, ‘I Want Love’ and ‘Rocketman’ are breathtakingly emotional and powerful in their own unique way. There was no doubt that director Dexter Fletcher would make something special after his completion on Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody, but this is a whole other animal from your standard music artist biopic. This is musical meets real life. Could you get more Elton John?
John’s music fits into his own personal story perfectly, with up to 21 of his classics slipping in nicely to cover his father’s negligence of him, his exciting youth with music and his first time performing professionally as a leading man.
Egerton really makes the role his own whilst giving you moments that scream Elton John. Every look, smile and body gesture is what you imagine a young version of the ‘Tiny Dancer’ artist to be like. After seeing this performance, you can’t imagine anyone else in the role and you definitely don’t recognise him as the young, troubled youth Eggsy in the Kingsman film series.
As alluded to, Bell’s performance as Bernie Taupin is surprisingly great. I say surprisingly because of Bell’s twitchy history with his characters (not including his amazing breakthrough performance as the title role in Billy Elliot during his childhood). The chemistry between Egerton and Bell is clearly natural – the two make their seems completely seamless and easy to watch. You can see a genuine friendship is there. Yeah, ‘they’re actors, they’re supposed to do that’, but it would take more than my ten fingers to count the amount of on-screen best friends that just didn’t work because of JUST acting.
The rest of the supporting cast brings their a-game. Richard Madden has led us to be charmed by his turns as Robb Stark in Game of Thrones and DC David Budd in Bodyguard, but his portrayal as John’s manager, John Reid, has us hating the man’s guts. Reid was played in a different way by Aiden Gillian in Bohemian Rhapsody, with this performance showing his romance with John turn quite drastically into a relationship of hatred and abuse. We were well aware that this film would show the murky sides of the famous musician, but not to the extent that it does show. We even see his love/hate relationship with his mother, played by the fun Bryce Dallas Howard (just a shame about the accent here and there really).
These low moments for Elton John are done quiet beautifully. If you can’t call that ironic I don’t what you can. The rendition of ‘Rocketman’ that is played during his suicide attempt that sees him duet with his younger self, then go into a sort of contemporary dance that sees him then appear live on stage is artistic freedom gone mad. It is a unique way of Elton John letting out his feelings. The film almost feels like a sort of therapeutic way of the musician letting out all of the emotions from decades gone by.
The film does have it’s moments where it falters. The lead up to the final scene almost feels weak once we’ve seen the therapy room that kicks off the film for the 100000th time. The downward spiral of John also seems to lose it’s footing here and there and you come out of the screening trying to jigsaw together what came first in the back end of the film so that you can remember the story. However, the first hour and 15 minutes of the film AT LEAST make it so that you could potentially over look these chinks.
All in all, Elton John set out to give a show-all biopic that is filmed and produced as if it was all completely in the ‘Tiny Dancer’ artist’s head. Apart from a few slow moments near the end and some seconds of losing interest before the film’s final track is performed, you do get a thrill ride.
From us at ScreenHeads, this piece of magic gets an 8.6!
Rocketman is currently in cinemas everywhere!