When I was little, I would wait for my older brother to go out and sneak down to the converted basement where he spent his teen years. He had a Hi-Fi and extensive collection of KISS albums. He couldn’t yet drive, but darned if he didn’t own all four KISS solo LPs. And I would listen to them and more when he was away. Among his cornucopia of pre-metal standards there was an outlier, an out-of-place 45 rpm single that caught my attention: “Island Girl” by somebody called Elton John. I listened to that 45 every chance I could; who knows why? Too frivolous for an epiphany and too soft for defiance, “Island Girl” –like so many other Elton John hits- didn’t make the Rocketman cut, nor should it have. But there’s no convincing the tadpole version of me that Elton John wasn’t important all the same.
How important? Well, he gets to have a biopic homage while he’s still alive and kicking. Not everybody gets that. Not at all.
Appropriately enough, Rocketman begins in therapy; this is a fairly clever way to 1) introduce Elton John’s childhood, 2) run through the telling events in his life, and 3) let us know immediately the man is a mess. It’s not just that he’s giving the “Hello, I’m Elton and I’m a ____________” speech; he’s pouring it out while wearing a costume that can only be described as: imagine if the Devil thought he were Evel Knievel – what would that look like? Elton John (Taron Egerton, who is probably the biggest actor I could pass on the street without an ounce of recognition) was clearly coming straight from a concert.
Taron takes us back to when Elton was Reggie Dwight (Matthew Illesley and Kit Connor), a born musician to a flaky mother (Bryce Dallas Howard) and the human equivalent of a stone wall for a father. Not every child has perfect pitch, perfect recall, and a love for music (so I’m told, at least); you would think this would make Reg a bit of a celeb. You’d be wrong.
One of my favorite moments in the film is the audition for the Royal Academy of Music where 11-year-old Reggie has prepared nothing, so he simply repeats the piece of classical piano his future teacher is playing when he enters the music room. He stops where she stops because “that’s where you stopped,” a clear message that Reggie Dwight had never before heard the piece of music.
And then came Elton, talented, brooding, flamboyant Elton, a man who cannot bear his soul -through song- fast enough. Better with the music than the words, he gets thrown together with poet Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell),
who I guess is owed a great deal of the credit for Elton’s rise. In fact, Rocketman is extremely weak on what Elton wrote by himself vs. what Bernie wrote and Elton just supplied the music. For instance, who wrote “Your Song?” Because the film is very unclear on its lyrical origin and that’s kind of an important one to give proper credit.
Speaking of which, the adult version of me finds it impossible to consider Elton John without thinking about films he’s influenced without signing a single note: Moulin Rouge, Ella Enchanted, Almost Famous immediately come to mind. The idea that he “took 5” out of his recording session with Kiki Dee on “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” to get a quickie (as this film suggests) is always going to put a wry smile on my face … especially while watching Ella Enchanted.
Three themes prevail throughout the Elton John story as told here: 1.The overwhelming talent. 2. The indulgence in sex, drugs, and his own emotional states. 3. Rebellion. He always seems to be defying somebody for some reason. One of the biggest problems with the film is most of his greatest material doesn’t match the mood of the picture. Elton John is fabulous composer of ballads, but ballads reflect, they don’t defy. During one key scene, the film reports to Elton kicking ass on stage to “Pinball Wizard,” which I know Elton covered during his career, but it’s not his song. Whatsamatta, dudes, did you run out of material for rebellion?
Speaking of running out, Elton lovers will probably feel cheated by the curtailed song lengths in Rocketman; I’m not sure a single tune, no matter how huge, gets more than a verse and a chorus. That seems a bit of a shame, no? I mean, you didn’t have to go full Live Aid, like Bohemian Rhapsody did, but doncha think at least one Elton John tune deserves a second verse?
Look, every film should stand and be evaluated on its own. And Rocketman passes both barriers with relative ease. That said … this film, this biography, is fairly similar to Bohemian Rhapsody, no? Gifted musician struggling with sexuality escapes his mediocre homelife to become an English rock ‘n’ roll legend. Meanwhile, his antics and abuses are only tolerated because he’s so damn talented. Realization. Acceptance. Back to the legacy. Credits. Sound about right? And I wouldn’t mind –it’s a good story- except, we just saw Bohemian Rhapsody a half-year ago. Forgive my age; some of us need a greater refractory period, ya dig?
♪Elton’s story is on screen again
I can see the parallels with Bohemian
Oh, I can see Freddie in this screenplay
Boy it seems like Freddie, what more can a fellow say?
They say John’s a peacock, though I’ve never seen
Beats the heck out of some rock generating machine
Oh, Freddie should know, he’s been there enough
Struttin’ for the cameras is is that Rhapsodic stuff
Oh oh, Freddie, his brother, you were older than he,
And now he wears a chain from your royal legacy
Elton survived, periodically thrived
Elton you’re a star, but this film seems derived♫
Rated R, 121 Minutes
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Writer: Lee Hall
Genre: Rhapsodic redux
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The same ones who liked it last year when it was called Bohemian Rhapsody
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Bigots probably won’t enjoy this version much either
♪ Parody Inspired by “Daniel”
