Every generation is blessed with a Rock legend, and the ’60s was preparing for Reginald Dwight to take the ’70s by storm. For outlandishly flamboyant Elton Hercules John, any other biopic would fall short, but this Musical Fantasy hit the high note.
Rocketman is the re-telling of Sir Elton John’s rise to fame, told from his point of view while starting rehab. If you were looking forward to a realistic drama, then the first few moments will let you down. After dropping us into the deep end with the long list of addictions, young Reggie appears to Elton (Taron Egerton) in a taunting manner, singing a rendition of The Bitch Is Back. As the pair run into Elton’s memory of the 1950’s, it expands into a musical number that rivals an Andrew Lloyd Webber production. The film offers Elton John’s music in a mix of live performance recreations, fantasy musical moments, and teases during song creation, a few notes of Candle in the Wind was just enough.
Considering the film is based on the real, and very recent, life of Sir Elton John, the events throughout the film take liberties with the chronology and perhaps the behaviours of it’s characters. But then again that’s the beauty of putting it into the genre Musical Fantasy. We don’t have to believe the dramatised version of events, nor do we have to believe how people treated each other. The story is told from Elton’s viewpoint. He knows he had anger issues, he knows about his drug addictions, alcohol dependency, and what’s more, he knows we already know. He wanted to tell us about what we probably didn’t know. I for one had no idea about the abuse he endured from his family and his manager (and partner), or his suicide attempts.
I find it fitting that he replaced moments of his life with his own songs. During a party at his home, he swallowed a bottle of pills, washed it down with alcohol, and announced for his next trick was to drown himself. We’re not exactly supposed to believe that while sinking to the bottom of the pool he saw his younger self playing Rocketman, breathing inside a fishbowl bubble. Maybe that’s how he chooses to remember it. More worryingly is how he remembers that period of his life. He didn’t even know what day or week it was. He was rushed straight out of that pool, fixed back up, and thrown back onto stage to keep performing. Really puts a different spin on the baseball outfit.
During this time in his life there are moments that are all merged together and played out in front of you before you really get the chance to acknowledge what it is he’s going through. Director Dexter Fletcher was able to convey this short story for us to follow without giving any details, and it certainly made me feel just as confused as Elton did without ever being pulled out of the film which is an accomplishment to manage.
This lack of care for his well being is forced onto us again later as he overdoses and collapses as a result from a heart attack. Without the chance to breathe, his manager decides to not only go ahead with his sold out tour, but to add five more nights to the roster.
What didn’t you like?
The performance given by Taron Egerton in the first few moments gives well deserved hope into his portrayal; focusing on behaviour and characteristics unique to Elton, right down to baring his teeth with a seething smile. It’s short lived, however, when we are taken into his childhood years and meet young Elton and watch him grow into a slightly older child who decides he wants to become a rocker. A couple of Fantasy performances are shown, such as I Want Love, and although the actors are all capable singers, we’re left feeling a little bored. Kit Connor’s (Older Elton) voice during Saturday Night’s Allright (For Fighting) came across as annoying – less of a cool rocker, more a screaming child. Not to say the scene was entirely ruined, as it takes the song to transition from Connor to Egerton in a greaser gang in possibly my favourite moment of the film.
Every event that happened throughout this film rung a bell in my head that the story is plagued with Elton’s bias. Though not a fault of the film, but a fault with biopics in general, especially when we as the audience are told to root for the main character, how much can we take seriously? It’s not difficult to believe how cruel fathers can be, or how homophobic mothers in the ’70s were. But how true is it that the Dwight’s never even hugged him? Do we take Elton’s word as gospel or is it an exaggeration? Like a kid who tells his friends his parents make them eat dog food.
What did you like?
Aside from the irritating voice of Kit Connor, there was little to dislike. One of my major gripes whilst watching, was the usage of the song Rocketman. It doesn’t impact as well as I hoped it would, and is played a little slow. In the trailer for the film we have a pause in the music with a sour faced Egerton being prepared, then the music kicks back in as he grins and runs out on stage. I do however forgive the moment in the film as is would not have delivered the same meaning within the story, the notion that he doesn’t get that pause and is expected to smile and be happy.
The talents of Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell (Bernie Taupin), and Richard Madden (John Reid) gave this film the life it deserved. And, ultimately, their characters were written in such a way that Elton was the narrator. Bernie has a touching scene with Elton atop a London roof where he professes his platonic love for Elton. However until that moment you could see Bell playing as though his feelings were more than that. Maybe as that’s what Elton wanted to see?
A common comparison to Rocketman is the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and I am no different to the trend. Throughout the latter film, it was less of a narrative of the rise of Freddie Mercury and came across as a series of footnotes into how each song came about. The stories didn’t feel linked all too much; they were just events that happened to the band.
In comparison, Rocketman gave a sense of how each moment effected and changed Elton. The stories that happened around him, a development of character, a ripple of structure. If I were to watch this film with no knowledge of who Elton John was, would it make me believe this was fiction? Possibly. Should it? Not necessarily. But it worked for this film.
A personal favourite factoid on the production of this film that really helped enhance the experience was that Elton John gave Taron Egerton his blessing to sing the songs in his own way, and not to try being the next Elton John. It worked. Egerton let his acting be Elton, and sung in a way that gave his interpretation of the role, instead of trying to match the singer, or even play Elton’s singing over the top of Egerton’s performance.
Conclusion.
The life of Legend Sir Elton John is definitely not one to miss out on. Taron Egerton is as much an amazing singer as he is an actor, and a career worth following. Rocketman delivers every expectation and even includes a few surprises along the way. No moment felt like a drag and instead flowed from one outrageous scene to the next. I’d recommend this film to any Elton John fan: 9/10.
Royston D A 