Like many others, when I heard that there was going to be a biopic about musician Elton John, I was pretty excited. I felt that there was a pretty solid chance that the film would be at least relatively watchable and worth my time.
After all, since I had already enjoyed 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (same director) and 'Eddie The Eagle', same director & main actor) it wasn't a difficult decision to watch the film. All the signs pointed to the movie being entertaining and enjoyable.
So having now seen 'Rocketman' with my friend this week, it has to be said that the film didn't really disappoint. The biopic / musical turned out to be pretty entertaining, even though I do have so minor reservations about its story and how it was written.
In any case, when it comes to the film, the biggest reason that the movie is as watchable as it is, is of course because of its 'star'. There's no question that Sir Elton John is someone who deserved a movie about him and his fascinating life.
After all, not only is Elton (born Reginald Dwight) an accomplished musician with a long career, but he's also someone who really knew how to push the limits as a performer and who was willing to give his all to make his concerts as entertaining as possible.
Indeed, in the film's story, it doesn't take long before Elton's (played by Taron Egerton) rare musical talent becomes obvious. Once he gets his hands on a piano as a young kid and learns his craft, it's obvious that he's going to go far.
Not surprisingly, once he finds an equally talented partner to write lyrics for him (Bernie Taupin - who has written pretty much all his lyrics), it's time to go big. The duo moves to the States and wins people over thanks to his catchy songs (and despite his outfits).
Filmwise, what I really appreciated about the movie is that before I saw 'Rocketman', I didn't know how good of a musician, composer & piano player Elton was. I just hadn't thought about him that much - even as a somewhat fan of his.
After all, even though Taupin wrote the lyrics for his songs, it took so much talent and creativity to compose songs that were that good. His compositions ('Your Song', 'Crocodile Rock' & 'Rocketman' among others) are simply wonderful and timeless classics.
Storywise, it has to be said that even though I enjoyed, the movie, there aren't really that many obstacles for the main character's success in the story. Unlike in 'Bohemian Rhapsody', Elton becomes a superstar almost instantly (in the 1st act of the film).
The problem with this is that since that there aren't that many obstacles later in the movie, there's not that much of a story to tell. This leads to the film being padded with musical bits and being a bit anticlimactic in its final.
In hindsight, even though Elton's struggles with his addictions and not being loved by his parents are relevant and part of his dramatic arc, one could argue that they're not enough. The script could have used some additional character moments to make it stronger.
Still, when I think about the film as a whole, in my opinion the filmmakers were able to the thread the needle rather well and managed to put together a fairly compelling story. They were able to come up with a solid movie despite the flaws in the screenplay.
After all, especially when it comes to Taron Egerton's performance as Elton, he does an absolutely incredible job here. He's so good that his performance should easily earn him at least an academy award nomination - if not an outright win.
In that sense, if you're one of those who enjoyed 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Eddie The Eagle', you should definitely give 'Rocketman' a chance and watch it. You should give it a chance and not be discouraged by some of the negative reviews that it has gotten.
After all, even though the film isn't perfect and has some issues, it's still a good movie. 'Rocketman' is a good movie and as long as you don't take it too seriously, it's likely that you'll enjoy the film and that watching it will put you on a good mood.
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