When Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story was released, it seemed the traditional musical biopic had been brutally murdered. The standard format of movies like Ray and Walk the Line had been parodied so extensively, it would be foolish to try and recreate a film based on the same formula. Apparently, the makers of Bohemian Rhapsody didn't get the memo with their bland, dull, Wikipedia page mess they produced in the exact same format. Director Dexter Fletcher was asked to do finishing work on the previously mentioned film, while still completing Rocketman. With the name being attached to Bohemian Rhapsody, I was concerned that Rocketman would be of a similar vein, and leave this critic all but unimpressed. I am here to say that Rocketman was, in fact, a pleasant surprise.
Rather than making a traditional biography, Rocketman chose to embrace a more fantastical, musical, and psychological approach to the flamboyant life of Elton John. While still touching on the important aspects of John's life, the film embraces musicals numbers set his music to Hollywood dance numbers. This was a big risk that Dexter Fletcher took that I believe really payed off. Think of Across the Universe, except grounded in some reality and not a poorly constructed, hodgepodge of abstract images set to music. The film also focused on the dirty aspects of John's life with the R-Rating. Most biographies go for a PG-13 approach to be as accessible to wide audiences as possible. However, Elton himself wanted to film to focus on the sex, drugs, and rock and roll that was so rampant in his past life. The aspect of telling the story I appreciated the most was the honest portrayal of mental health issues and an accurate depiction of an individual struggling with being homosexual. The film felt honest it's approach to both sides with the main character narrating he story as he saw it. The timelines for events are completely off, but it still feel honorable to John's legacy. Overall, Lee Hall's screenplay can suffer at times from being hackneyed, but still feels incredibly heartfelt for the majority of the film.
The technical aspects of the film were perhaps its greatest achievement. Most of the camera work focused on incredibly long takes. One of the major criticisms of Bohemian Rhapsody was the rapid fire editing and how quickly the camera moved, which of course the Academy honored with a Best Film Editing Oscar. Instead, Rocketman has detailed and lengthy shots that are very aesthetically satisfying to the viewer's eye. The costume design of bringing Elton's gaudy and ornate costumes to life on the screen was no easy task, yet the makeup and design team deserves all the praise for making the character so much more believable.
Enough cannot be said for Taron Egerton's performance. Egerton embodies Elton John, while still making the performance his own. At times, I forgot that I was watching an actor portraying someone, and believed I was watching Elton himself. Egerton doing his own signing was incredibly brave and though he is not a perfect at emulating Elton's voice, he is pretty damn good at it. I believe that the Academy will honor him with an Oscar as his performance is now the one to beat.
I'm actually shocked how much I enjoyed Rocketman. It was a fun, emotional, and unconventional musical biopic that let director Dexter Fletcher fly his freak flag very high. I could easily quibble at every fact they missed, every poor moment, and every directorial choice, but I choose to instead give the movie all the praise it deserves. Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for the musical biography.
Grade: (8.5/10)
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