Rocketman Is A Strong Musical Biopic With A Terrific Performance From Taron Egerton.

      The first serious Oscar Contender for 2019 has arrived with Rocketman, the surprisingly strong and well-acted musical fantasy/biopic about the early years of Elton John's childhood and breakthrough to the musical world starring Kingsman's Taron Egerton. Picking up the mantle from Bohemian Rhapsody which became the music biography to see in 2018 with over $900 million in worldwide box office and 4 Oscar wins total. Whats interesting about Rhapsody's success is despite all the controversy with its director Bryan Singers off screen sexual misconduct allegations, that film managed to be a complete and utter triumph both financially and critically. The hope with Rocketman is that lightning will strike twice with a part fantasy and part biography centered around one of the worlds most iconic musicians such as Elton John. It helps that John is a highly influential musician with an unusual upbringing and rise to stardom. The film feels like a cross between Bohemian Rhapsody in the biography department and Across The Universe in the fantasy aspect of its story. Put the two together and the end result is a highly entertaining and effective biographical drama, that's both entertaining and insightful to fans of Elton John while remaining completely respectful.

      Rocketman is a brilliantly well-directed, written, and acted biopic that beautifully captures the essence of the musician as well as a perfect balance of the highs and lows of his career. The story begins with Elton John as a child with his real name being revealed as Reginald Kenneth Dwight. The film opens up with Elton John attending a group meeting for recovering addicts. He announces during the meeting that he is a drug addict, sex addict, and alcoholic who wants to get better before he gets worse. The film begins a series of flashbacks showing his youth as being a shy but warm-hearted child with an emotionally vacant mother (Played impressively by Bryce Dallas Howard), and dominating father (Played by Steven Mackintosh), who turns out to be worse as he's both controlling and shows no affection towards young Reginald. It is with the neglect of his parents that Elton begins to take an interest in music with his mother and more affectionate grandmother signing him up for piano lessons. The story then fast-forwards to the 1960's with Elton as a teenager attending a music academy in London to improve his skills as a musician followed by him meeting songwriter Bernie Taupin and forming a partnership in creating music. The rest of the story shows Elton's rise to fame as well as him becoming more emotionally unstable and depressed. Rocketman plays out like a roller-coaster ride of a biography, one that shows the high points of a musicians life followed by the low ones. Whereas many musical biographies tend to feel generic and tired out by following the same formulas of storytelling, Rocketman is aware of this trend and chooses to be different adding fantastical elements that make one think of Across The Universe in terms of visual style and the main character suddenly bursting into a musical number along with showing Elton's journey towards becoming the musician the audience knows him to be today.

      In terms of acting performances, Taron Edgerton proves to be the perfect casting choice to play Elton John and deserves both praise and award consideration for his work here. One doesn't see him as the young agent from Kingsman, they see Elton John in the part. Jamie Bell does a strong job playing Bernie Taupin, song-writer and music partner to Elton, the audience really gets a sense of their friendship as well as working relationship in the film. Richard Madden does a solid job playing Elton's lover and music manager John Reid, a character that helped the audience explore Elton's estranged lifestyle while making them angry at the way John is treated by Reid later on in the story. Bryce Dallas Howard does a notable job playing Elton's emotionless mom Sheila Farebrother with Steven Mackintosh delivering an equally effective and memorable performance as Elton's father. As young Reggie, Matthew Illesley does a noteworthy job with him also sharing a physical similarity to Elton while portraying the shy yet polite aspects of his character. Gemma Jones delivers a compassionate and heartfelt performance as Elton's grandma Ivy, one of the key figures shown in the film who helps him discover his talent. The performances from the cast as a whole are top notch with all the main actors and actresses taking great care with the roles they play with each showing dedication and passion for the story. When watching these characters, the audience isn't thinking about the actors playing them, they see the characters being portrayed making them come across as being unrecognizable. As far as Oscar nominations go, Edgerton absolutely deserves one for his charismatic and impressive depiction of John showing great amounts of range as a dramatic actor.

      The films directing by Dexter Fletcher is top notch much like the films acting performances, one can truly tell while watching the film that Fletcher has a great admiration and respect for this individual and wants the audience to experience his journey to becoming a star in grand fashion. Already having prior experience to directing musical biopics as Fletcher was brought in to finish the final few weeks of shooting for Bohemian Rhapsody after its initial director was removed. Fletcher's involvement in that film help led to it being the massive success it was last year while also serving as a test run for his work here. Whereas Bohemian shares the genes of two different directors, Rocketman is Fletcher's baby as he does a great job bringing a unique style to the film blending true to life moments with glitzy, dream fantasy sequences that make the film feel like a biography stuck in a fantasia. This tone brings flare to the film which separates it from other generic and by the numbers biopic as one moment the movie is being factual with the next minute having it drop into the fantasy music cue, that brings singing and dancing from the main actor and actresses. It also helps with keeping the story as a whole engaging while incorporating some of Elton's key songs by having them cleverly distributed throughout the film. Fletcher directs this film as if its a 21st century biography that's stuck in an old school Hollywood musical from the 50's and 60's era with the payoff being highly entertaining as well as the end result being a brilliant piece of art.

     On a technical note, the films Art-Set Decoration and Costume Designs are excellent, particularly the scenes where the film flashes to the fantastical side. The films Cinematography is beautifully shot making the musical scenes look like a Broadway show while complimenting the films other visual aspects such as the set decoration and the striking costumes the main character wears such as the orange devilish type outfit when entering the addict groups meeting in the films opening scene. That moment is significant visually because it sets the tone for the character as well as the rest of the film while also informing the audience that they are not going to watch a typical music biopic but will instead be apart of the experience. The films editing is also masterfully put together as Elton's life is told through a series of flashbacks like pieces of a puzzle being put together as he explains his life story as well as his struggles to both the audience and those in the recovery addict meeting. The editing presents Elton's life to be an extremely wild one (With him narrating his experiences to the audience) as Elton is shown to be performing music at concerts one minute, then finding love the next to him downing a handful of pills and drinking vodka before announcing to a crowd at a party his intentions of killing himself before ultimately being prevented from doing so. The filmmakers essentially take Elton's life and turn it into a roller-coaster ride that's visually stunning, exciting for those who enjoy his music, and emotionally powerful for audiences that can relate to his struggles. To say that the films sound effects are terrific would be stating the obvious, the sound mixing is at its best when it utilizes Johns music while showing Edgertons performing.

      Rocketman ultimately is not your typical musical biography, it gives you the background on the main character while adding elements to the story that makes his life appear more intriguing. If you're a fan of Elton John then you're going to love this movie. If you're not so much a fan but enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody, then this film will wow you as well considering they both share similar elements that make them standout. Out of the two films, Rocketman is the more personal and creative film as it becomes more inventive with its fantasy elements while telling a more straight-forward story regarding the main singer rather than focusing on the band or a large concert. The film feels like a biography trapped inside of a musical with the music being used as a guide to help emphasize Johns troubled past. For those who are expecting the film to be specifically fact driven, this will come across as being disappointing as its not meant to be a typical biopic, its meant to be an experience for the audience in the same way Rhapsody was. The audience will surely get a better and more personal understanding of Elton John after the credits roll as the film portrays him to be both a fascinating yet flawed figure. Given its two hour running time, Rocketman does its absolute best to take you though the key points of Elton's life while making it a special kind of experience for the audience. In that regard its a total success as well as being the years first serious Oscar contender. For music and musical fans, this film is a must see.

Final Verdict: SEE IT