Two genres that have actually made a resurgence has been that of the musical and the biopic. Truly biopics have been chic for a while, the creation of combining the musical and biopics is wooing audiences to the theater. This was the case of last year's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and now we have "Rocketman".
This is an epic musical fantasy about the incredible human story of Elton John's breakthrough years. The film follows the fantastical journey of transformation from shy piano prodigy Reginald Dwight into international superstar Elton John. This inspirational story--set to Elton John's most beloved songs written by his longtime music partner, lyrist Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell) and performed by star Taron Egerton--tells the universally relatable story of how a small-town boy became one of the most iconic figures in pop culture. This story dives into Elton John's parents, the cold and austere mother, Sheila (Bryce Dallas Howard) and the absent, dismissive father, Stanley (Stephen Mackintosh). Their coldness and dismissiveness drove him to change everything he was. Soon, he met Taupin and his manager John Reid (Richard Madden) who later became his first love physically.
Others to round out the cast are Gemma Jones as Ivy, Tom Bennett as Fred, Charlie Rowe as Ray Williams, Matthew Illesley as young Reggie, Kit Connor as older Reggie, Pete O'Hanlon as Bobby, Ross Farrelly as Cyril, Evan Walsh as Elton Dean, Tate Donovan as Doug Weston and Sharmina Harrower as Heather.
This was directed with pathos and dramatic effect by Dexter Fletcher ("Wild Bill" '11, "Sunshine on Leith" '13, "Eddie and the Eagle" '15). The way this filmmaker was able to extract the right nuances of Elton out of Egerton was brilliant. It's the nuances that are typically difficult to bring out of an actor representing a real person in history, however Egerton being the actor he is becoming, he simply pulled this characterization out of his hat.
It was equally brilliantly written by veteran Lee Hall ("The Prince of Hearts" (TV movie) '97, "Spoonface Steinberg" (TV movie) '98, "Billy Elliot" 2000, "The Wind in the Willows" (TV movie) '06, "Toast" (TV movie) '10, "War Horse" '11, "Victoria & Abdul" '17) plus others. There were similarities between this film and "Bohemian Rhapsody" in that they were musicals, they are about two famous gay icons and were both biopics, however the differences far exceed the similarities: this film was filmed as a musical fantasy whereas Bohemian was filmed as a biopic that was about the music of Freddie Mercury and that the music in Bohemian was lip-synced by Rami Malek, whereas Egerton actually sang all of Elton John's songs. Egerton, having a singing background made it a shoe-in to cast him. This script was intensely difficult to write considering it was written partly as a fantasy. It would've been easy for this script to become convoluted, but Hall was able to intertwine the fantasy with the reality in a way that it worked amazingly well. I will be extremely curious to see how he writes "Cats" which is in post-production and has a 2019 release.
Whether you are an Elton John fan or not, this is definitively one of the best portrayal of a musical icon I have ever seen. Egerton surely shined in this as did Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin--both could be looking at nominations come Oscar time. Otherwise, the photography, costume design and, of course, the music were all superb. Hey, how could anyone not like Elton John's music?
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: R 121mins.
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