From a dazzling performance by a former Nickelodeon actor to a run-time that goes
on just a bit too long, these are the best and worst moments of director Baz Luhrmann's Elvis.
If you're a fan of rock movies,
Elvis really captures what a rock film should be. It's big, over the top, bombastic, colorful,
and moves along at a breakneck pace. These are, of course, all trademarks of Baz Luhrmann's work,
and his frenetic style is a great fit for the incredible rocket ride of Presley's life.
Elvis captures what's sadly missing from rock today: the raw, primal energy and sexual angst
that made the music explode. Luhrmann's enthusiasm and passion are off the charts,
and you can't help but feel it pouring off the screen. With Elvis Luhrmann shows us why Elvis
hit like a bomb when he first came along. The '50s were a repressed time, and when he hits the stage
for the first time performing "Baby Let's Play House," the audience can't help but go wild. The
film captures how rock 'n roll made people feel, how it pushed the right buttons, and how the
energy onstage, and in the audience, fed off each other, creating a perfect storm of excitement.
Not only can Elvis stand proud with the great rock movies of cinema history,
but it truly captures the spirit of the music, more so than any other rock film in recent memory.
Elvis, like a lot of movies these days,
is simply too long. The run time for the film is 159 minutes, and while it certainly is not
boring for a minute, there are definitely moments where audiences can feel the movie running out of
steam as the pacing starts to lag a bit. Elvis Presley's life and career make for a big story,
that goes without saying, and there's a lot of ground to cover. Trying to capture
his life in anything less than two hours would give the man short shrift. But again,
with the film pushing three hours, it runs the risk of feeling overstuffed.
While it is hard to imagine what could reasonably be cut from the film,
if Luhrmann tightened things up here and there, it definitely would have
helped a great deal in keeping the initial momentum on pace throughout the picture.
Elvis is a very well-made film, and it's a knockout on the big screen. All the
technical aspects of the film, including the cinematography, production design,
and costumes, are top-notch. Baz Luhrmann used his regular cinematographer, Mandy Walker,
to shoot the film, and she did a terrific job.
Elvis also has a number of lengthy musical numbers and the recreations of the 1968 comeback special
and Presley's Vegas shows are amazing. The musical numbers in the film have so much energy, you get
tired watching them, and like Presley himself, Butler gives it everything he's got while he's on
stage. Elvis is so well made, and so big in scope, that it's hard to believe that the film only cost
a reported $85 million. It looks like it cost way more, and every penny is up there on the screen.
One of the odd things about Elvis is his
marriage to Priscilla feels very underwritten. In fact, Priscilla as a character feels more like an
afterthought than an important person in Presley's life. Olivia DeJonge's performance as Priscilla
is fine, but the movie doesn't give her much to do, and when the marriage finally falls apart,
Elvis is clearly devastated, but the audience doesn't feel his despair. Furthermore,
you don't feel that invested in their relationship because it's nowhere near
as passionate as the musical numbers. Even in a movie that's nearly three hours long,
there are going to be areas of Presley's life that will get scant attention or no
attention at all. But the romance between Elvis and Priscilla definitely needed more screen time.
Playing Elvis is a role any young actor would kill for. It's also one of the most frightening
and challenging roles an actor can take on. You not only have to get the look,
the dance moves, and the voice right, but you also have to get the essence of the
man. Austin Butler was previously best known for performing on Nickelodeon and the Disney
Channel shows like Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place, and he knew
very well he was taking a big risk playing one of the most beloved figures in rock history.
"The whole beginning process of this was me kind of going, 'Do I believe I can do it?'"
As Butler told NME, the first time he wore Elvis's iconic black leather outfit,
he was truly terrified. The actor recalled:
"I'd done so much work, but at that moment I thought, If this doesn't go
well the whole film could fall apart and my career's over. It's make or break."
Thankfully, Butler absolutely pulled it off,
and to see him nail Presley is a remarkable "star is born" moment.
One of the biggest controversies surrounding Elvis is Tom Hanks' performance as Presley's
infamous manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Parker was of European descent,
and Hanks performs the role with an odd accent that many have found off-putting.
Even Parker's biographer, Alanna Nash, has said that Hanks got Parker's accent wrong.
"I had to find a way out."
She told Variety that Parker's real accent was "more American, more rural." Ultimately,
Hanks' accent is an acquired taste, and you'll either go with it or you won't. Yet
Hanks' performance and accent are nowhere near as bad as his detractors are saying,
and in some ways, his voice even adds to the creepiness of the character.
Not a huge Elvis fan? Don't know anything about the guy? Not a problem. You absolutely don't
have to be an Elvis fanatic to enjoy the movie — although the film could
go a long way to converting newcomers into Presley devotees. Funnily enough,
you don't have to be a Baz Luhrmann fan to like the movie, either. The Australian
director has a fast-paced, frenetic style that's not for everyone, but with Elvis,
he pulls you right into a very entertaining and engrossing movie. Elvis is a great starting point
for new fans. It's essentially Elvis 101, showing the broad strokes of the King's life and career,
and it sets up a good foundation for newcomers to get hooked on his music as well.
The rock 'n roll biopic usually follows
a familiar pattern we've all seen many times over: An artist has a rise, a fall, a resurrection,
and often a tragic end. While Elvis has many great musical numbers and packs a strong visual punch,
its storyline is very simplistic and it often feels too on the nose and obvious. To be fair,
the story of Elvis' life has been retold countless times, and while Luhrmann found an exciting visual
way to tell the story, it often falls into cliches we've seen in too many music biopics to list. It's
great to watch Elvis dance in front of a screaming audience for the first time, but it feels a
little hokey that Presley can't figure out what's driving the girls crazy until the band tells him,
The film also shows Elvis literally lost in a house of mirrors as he's trying to figure out
his identity. Then, when he decides to make Colonel Parker his manager,
they make their pact at a carnival, which is an obvious symbol of the circus his life is about
to become. Elvis' death also cannot get more obvious when the King boards his private plane,
the Lisa Marie, and it vanishes off into the clouds, symbolizing his ascent into heaven. In
other words, Elvis is certainly not subtle. If you're looking for a movie with nuanced depth,
thought-provoking subtext, and an innovative, groundbreaking storyline, well, this isn't it.
When a retro movie is done right, it can truly
make you feel like you've been taken back in time. In this regard, Elvis is a wonderful time machine
that very faithfully recreates the '50s, '60s, and '70s in great detail. Even if you weren't
alive when Elvis walked the Earth, the film has an authenticity to it where you're convinced that's
how the world really was in those days. And it's a wonderful trip to go back to a world where there
was no internet, fans couldn't film concerts with their smartphones, and there was no social media.
"Who the hell is that?" "It's that boy, from Memphis."
When Elvis became a major superstar, it really meant something because he
didn't build his career on a reality TV show like American Idol. Back then,
entertainment wasn't as accessible as it is today, and going to see the man in concert
really felt like a major event. Elvis revisits a time when entertainers felt more legendary and
were more mysterious to the public before they eventually crashed down to Earth.
When watching Elvis, it's clear that
Luhrmann came to praise him, not to bury him. Watching the film,
it's clear that it could have done more to show the dark side of Presley, of which
there was plenty to dissect, especially in the later years when he became a sad self-parody.
The fans made Presley a god, but the man was certainly not a saint, and some online critics
have pointed out how Elvis should be called to task for grooming Priscilla when she was 14 and
for cultural appropriation. And of course, you have to wonder if Elvis would be canceled today,
like so many other celebrities who engage in sexual misconduct.
Elvis is a story told in broad strokes, it doesn't have shades of grey, but it could have made a much
more interesting and complex film if Luhrmann showed more of the dark side of Presley — not
to make the film more titillating, but to show that he really was only human after all.
A standout moment in Elvis is the song "If I Can Dream," a poignant call for peace as the
'60s were ending in turmoil. Elvis performed this song on his '68 comeback special, and its social
commentary is also right on time with current events. In 1968, the world was devastated by
the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. In the film, Elvis is profoundly
affected as well and wants to say something, but he's discouraged by Colonel Parker from making a
political statement. Against his manager's wishes, he performs "If I Can Dream," and it becomes his
statement to the world, with a message similar to John Lennon's "Imagine." Elvis truly sings
his heart out on "Dream," and it's one of the most impassioned performances of his career.
The scene is intercut with news footage of President Lyndon B. Johnson denouncing gun
violence, and with the recent mass shootings that have rocked the country in modern times,
the scene hits home hard today. It was a song the world needed then,
and it's a song the world needs today.
Yes, at times Elvis can feel bloated,
over the top, and cliché, but you can say the same about the man himself. Despite the
film's imperfections and flaws, enough sticks to the wall that Elvis ultimately comes out a
winner. It's a story that's been told many times over, but it's how Luhrmann told the story that
sets it apart from the standard rock biopic. Whatever the film lacks, it more than makes up
for it with his passion and enthusiasm, not just for Elvis, but for rock 'n roll as well. Butler
and Luhrmann made the right combination to bring Elvis' story to the big screen,
and you get the impression they both gave this movie everything they had. Just as Elvis loved
performing to the point of exhaustion, Butler and Luhrmann pushed themselves to the limit as well.
Of course, the king himself can't be here to enjoy his latest comeback,
but he'd probably be thrilled he's still remembered, and that his biopic is creating
a new generation of fans. Will there be more movies about Elvis in the future? Probably.
Will they have a hard time topping this one? Absolutely right they will.