Warner Bros. Pictures
Biopics of musicians are so controversial. They range from the good to the bad, the beloved to the shamed, with everything in between. So often the films are treated like textbooks by movie-going audiences, who are then scrutinized by fans of the artist for liking the film due to its inaccuracies and dramatizations.
That is my preface to tell you that I liked Elvis. It’s impossible to cover 42 years of life in one film. Crucial facts and tidbits will be left out (nothing on peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwiches!) so that the film can be its most dramatic. To tell the story that it wants to tell.
Audiences familiar with director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet) will know that he has a flair for the dramatic, so although this film will skip over some key details in Elvis’ life (Priscilla was 14 when they met!), it’ll do so in an attempt to make the film rock and roll — for better or worse.
The film follows the narrative arc of most biopics: honest beginnings, discovery, success, rise to fame, stardom, drugs, sex, rock and roll, an inevitable early demise. Luhrmann’s stylistic flourishes give the film the little pizzaz it needs to be more than your standard biography.
Elvis is played by Austin Butler, a former Disney Channel kid who’s made a go of being a serious actor over the past few years, working in films directed by Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, and Kevin Smith. Elvis is, without a doubt, his best work to date. He’s convincing as young Elvis – he’s got the swagger, the dancing, he plays the guitar and does his own singing. When Elvis gets past the age Butler is now, the lip-syncing and fat suit do a lot of the work, but he’s built up enough goodwill convincing you of his strong performance that you can’t blame him for it.
The real driving force of the film, however, is Tom Hanks as Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Hanks has spent an entire career building up goodwill by playing likable, wholesome fellas. His turn as the selfish, scheming manager is a surprising one. The Colonel would derail Elvis’ entire career if meant more money right now. Hanks has never given this before and although it wasn’t a necessary challenge in Hanks’ career, I always appreciate actors playing against type.
I’m sure many will be upset about what was left on the cutting room floor (the film cuts from around 1950 to around 1960 in about 30 seconds), and many may consider leaving out those stories and details a sin.
Those people may very well be right.
In exchange, I believe the film spends a lot of time trying to right a very famous wrong in Elvis’ story.
It is no secret that Elvis’ music came from the black people around him growing up. He took the rhythm and blues music that he heard in local religious revivals, in segregated blues venues, and on race records and made it popular. He took the techniques and musical stylings of these artists and made money off of something that was never his to begin with.
One could argue influence or theft. Good intentions or bad. The movie does not attempt to put a dog in that race (again, for better or worse), but it does attempt to give these original artists their due.
Big Mama Thornton sings ‘Hound Dog’ in front of him. B.B. King helps him go suit shopping on Beale Street. When someone tries to call him The King of Rock & Roll, he turns the attention to Fats Domino, ‘No,’ he says, ‘that’s the real king of rock and roll.’
Credit is given where credit is due. It doesn’t change what Elvis did, but it does right history just a little bit.
Toward the beginning of the film, Hanks’ Colonel says, ‘It doesn’t matter if you do ten stupid things so long as you do one smart one.’
Is that one course correction of the history of popular music worth it if the movie conveniently leaves out all of the things Elvis did wrong in his life? Probably not. The movie works overtime to convince you that everything bad that ever happened to Elvis was the Colonel’s fault.
You must then default on the biopic status quo: Don’t take everything a movie says as gospel. There’s no way to make a film like this that doesn’t include fibs.
I believe it does more good than harm. Judge for yourself and see the film – you should, it’s spectacular.
Elvis has a run time of 2 hours 39 minutes, and is rated PG-13 for substance abuse, strong language, suggestive material and smoking.
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