Rocketman (2019)

I’ll say it right off the bat, if you don’t like musicals then this is not the film for you. 

I know next to nothing about Elton John’s personal life. So it was painful to see how many struggles he faced. His trials and tribulations are all told through his music. 

It’s hard to tell which aspects of his life are embellished for film purposes and which are not, but I appreciate that it didn’t shy away from the negative aspects. Taron Egerton stars as Elton John. He sang all the songs himself and it’s impressive. Elton John himself has said no one else was more suited for the role. The film takes place mainly in the 1970s though we do get a glimpse of John’s early life. 

The film is big and spectacular much like John himself. 

Taking a different direction from most biopics, the film begins with John entering rehab. From th

ere John begins telling his life story. We are transported to Britain in the 1950s as John’s music begins to play. 

We move back and forth between John speaking to his fellow addicts and his life and career that has brought him to this point. It’s unusual, but it works. Interwoven with each major career highlight is one of John’s hits. 

The main focus of the film happens to be John’s addictions. 

There is no denying that Elton John is incredibly talented. So it is hard to see him struggle with his demons. Many stem from his home life and his sexual orientation. As his parents negative words inundate his brain, he makes poor decisions when it comes to his love life. As that falls apart he begins to drink. He drinks more and more and begins using cocaine as well. I appreciated that they showed John as the mean, unhappy person he became due to the drugs and alcohol. 

I feel as though those issues are usually glossed over in other biopics. Not that everyone becomes a horrible person while using, but they also aren’t the happy go lucky folks they’re shown to be. 

Elton John’s mother (Bryce Dallas Howard) drank a lot and rarely payed her son any mind. His father usually ignored his presence and never showed any affection towards his son. Once John’s career has taken off, he revisits his father who has since remarried and has two other sons. The stark contrast between how he treats them and how he treated John is apparent.  These weren’t the main reasons he became an addict, but they were huge contributors. 

There is more to Elton John than his addiction. He accomplished so much in his career, and I do wish more of those things were addressed. Although, if you’re a huge Elton John fan you probably know all about those. 

The moments in which we see John on stage performing are rare. It is hard to compare Egerton’s performance to say Rami Malek in this respect. Still, he captures John’s emotions perfectly. He transitions well between the man who was struggling with addiction and the man who wowed millions from the stage. 

As I mentioned I don’t know much about Elton John other than his music. I grew up listening to him because of my parents. I feel as though some of the timing of the music was off, but that might have been done purposefully in order to better serve the story. 

By timing I mean when the songs actually came out versus when the film says they came out. I suppose when you’re only soundtrack comes from only Elton John hits, you use the song that is best able to move the story forward. 

Ultimately the timeline of the songs doesn’t matter too much. The main focus is how John was able to overcome and indeed he did.