Rocketman (2019)

[baumer]

Discuss

[Avatree]

Great. Runs circles around Bohemian Rhapsody. I love that it's a musical too rather than straight up biopic.

[Fanboy]

Loved it. I'll agree with @Avatree in that the decision to make this a musical does the film a lot of favors. It makes the songs actually feel integral to the movie and sets it apart from other biopics we've had recently. The cast overall is a lot better than BR sans Rami Malek, and I would argue Egerton's lead performance is even more impressive than Malek's despite him not really looking like Elton John. Most of the characters still feel a bit under developed and there is one brief sequence I felt was really cliched and lazy to the point where it was cringe-worthy, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. Probably the best of the six or seven films I've seen so far this year. 

[Jonwo]

By making it a musical fantasy than a straight biopic, it is able to tell Elton's story in a way that oddly works. The first ten minutes are a bit slow but really ramps up once Taron Egerton shows up as adult Elton. The casting is mostly spot on apart from Bryce Dallas Howard who seems a bit miscast as Elton's Mum Sheila. 

 

 

[The Panda]

Really enjoyed this one, it’s night and day better than Bohemian Rhapsody.  I actually didn’t know it was going to be a musical fantasy going in, so that was a fun surprise.

 

The style really works, there’s a few quirky moments where the fantastical elements go for something more serious and don’t quite hit it with the right gravitas, but they overall really work.  The Rocketman sequence actually had me tear up a little bit.

 

Edgerton is fantastic as Elton, he’s the singer biopic actor that should have gotten the Oscar nomination (or win).  

 

The choreography is fun, the music is integrated well, it’s about as effective as a straightforward musical Biopic could hope to be.  

 

A-

[Webslinger]

Much like its subject, Rocketman is a unique, convention-defying experience that finds success by putting an eccentric spin on tried-and-true tropes. While this take on Elton John’s career through the beginning of his sobriety checks off many of the music biopic boxes, it feels markedly fresher than much of its ilk through the decision to arrange the film in a nonlinear fashion and integrate numerous musical sequences separate from the reality the narrative depicts. The result is part biopic and part jukebox musical, and it works fabulously much more often than not thanks to skillful direction from Dexter Fletcher and an admirably committed performance from Taron Egerton. Fletcher stages the musical numbers with flair and does a terrific job of matching the visual and aural power of the music with the intended emotional weight in the scene to convey the importance of the music in ways that many other music biopics either just talk about or leave simply to the vocal performances on display; this film does not need to pay lip service to the impact of Elton John’s music because it’s already communicated implicitly through these sequences. Egerton immerses himself in the role and delivers his most energetic and layered work to date. He’s not a dead ringer for Elton John, but he has a strong voice and carries the musical sequences with gusto and the dramatic scenes with a keen understanding of the toll that John’s many conflicts took on him. Though he’s unlikely to capture the same awards season lightning in a bottle, I think Egerton’s work here is at least on par with Rami Malek’s Oscar-winning turn in Bohemian Rhapsody – though I’ll qualify that assessment by acknowledging that Egerton also has a much stronger script to work with than Malek did. Though most of the film belongs to Egerton, the supporting ensemble is solid across the board, and the makeup work is strong enough that I couldn’t place several of the more famous cast members (Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, and especially Bryce Dallas Howard) for most of the running time. For viewers who may have grown weary of the music biopic formula, Rocketman is a most welcome shake-up of the usual proceedings.

 

B+

 

Stray Thoughts:

- Yeah... this one is undoubtedly going to draw a plethora of comparisons to Bohemian Rhapsody. I didn't hate Bohemian Rhapsody, but I definitely liked this film much better. It feels far more dynamic and it's not remotely as #problematic as the Oscar-winning film in its depiction of its protagonist's sexuality. Like yes, Richard Madden's manager seems like trouble as soon as he's introduced, but this film never feels like it punishes Elton John for his "lifestyle" as Bohemian Rhapsody did with Freddie Mercury.

 

- Speaking of the LGBTQ+ content: those coming-out scenes were heart-wrenching. Really well-played by Egerton and all others involved.

 

- With its views on the trappings of celebrity and cynicism in showbiz, this film feels like a spiritual companion to BoJack Horseman. It's not hard to imagine the Elton John in this film commiserating with BoJack (minus the self-destructive substance abuse by the end, of course).

 

- The "Rocketman" number is going to be divisive, methinks (it seems inevitable that some viewers will find the hallucination of child Elton playing piano at the bottom of the pool to be too weird to take seriously). That said, I loved it. The jarring juxtaposition of paramedics pumping his stomach with him then donning a garish costume, putting on a fake smile, and performing for an audience goes a long way toward showing how performance masks pain.

[The Panda]

6 hours ago, Webslinger said:

Much like its subject, Rocketman is a unique, convention-defying experience that finds success by putting an eccentric spin on tried-and-true tropes. While this take on Elton John’s career through the beginning of his sobriety checks off many of the music biopic boxes, it feels markedly fresher than much of its ilk through the decision to arrange the film in a nonlinear fashion and integrate numerous musical sequences separate from the reality the narrative depicts. The result is part biopic and part jukebox musical, and it works fabulously much more often than not thanks to skillful direction from Dexter Fletcher and an admirably committed performance from Taron Egerton. Fletcher stages the musical numbers with flair and does a terrific job of matching the visual and aural power of the music with the intended emotional weight in the scene to convey the importance of the music in ways that many other music biopics either just talk about or leave simply to the vocal performances on display; this film does not need to pay lip service to the impact of Elton John’s music because it’s already communicated implicitly through these sequences. Egerton immerses himself in the role and delivers his most energetic and layered work to date. He’s not a dead ringer for Elton John, but he has a strong voice and carries the musical sequences with gusto and the dramatic scenes with a keen understanding of the toll that John’s many conflicts took on him. Though he’s unlikely to capture the same awards season lightning in a bottle, I think Egerton’s work here is at least on par with Rami Malek’s Oscar-winning turn in Bohemian Rhapsody – though I’ll qualify that assessment by acknowledging that Egerton also has a much stronger script to work with than Malek did. Though most of the film belongs to Egerton, the supporting ensemble is solid across the board, and the makeup work is strong enough that I couldn’t place several of the more famous cast members (Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, and especially Bryce Dallas Howard) for most of the running time. For viewers who may have grown weary of the music biopic formula, Rocketman is a most welcome shake-up of the usual proceedings.

 

B+

 

Stray Thoughts:

- Yeah... this one is undoubtedly going to draw a plethora of comparisons to Bohemian Rhapsody. I didn't hate Bohemian Rhapsody, but I definitely liked this film much better. It feels far more dynamic and it's not remotely as #problematic as the Oscar-winning film in its depiction of its protagonist's sexuality. Like yes, Richard Madden's manager seems like trouble as soon as he's introduced, but this film never feels like it punishes Elton John for his "lifestyle" as Bohemian Rhapsody did with Freddie Mercury.

 

- Speaking of the LGBTQ+ content: those coming-out scenes were heart-wrenching. Really well-played by Egerton and all others involved.

 

- With its views on the trappings of celebrity and cynicism in showbiz, this film feels like a spiritual companion to BoJack Horseman. It's not hard to imagine the Elton John in this film commiserating with BoJack (minus the self-destructive substance abuse by the end, of course).

 

- The "Rocketman" number is going to be divisive, methinks (it seems inevitable that some viewers will find the hallucination of child Elton playing piano at the bottom of the pool to be too weird to take seriously). That said, I loved it. The jarring juxtaposition of paramedics pumping his stomach with him then donning a garish costume, putting on a fake smile, and performing for an audience goes a long way toward showing how performance masks pain.

The Rocketman sequence was my favorite part of the movie tbh

[Webslinger]

Also: as good as the scene is, it's pretty weird that an Elton John movie does not have the definitive cinematic usage of "Tiny Dancer." 

[Ezen Baklattan]

Team Egerton and Team Fletcher for life. The ending is maybe a bit forced but I'll be damned if it didn't make me tear up.

 

B+/A-

[Cap]

22 hours ago, Webslinger said:

Also: as good as the scene is, it's pretty weird that an Elton John movie does not have the definitive cinematic usage of "Tiny Dancer." 

Not If you remember that Tiny Dancer was never an official Single, and skyrocketed into the upper Echelon of popularity due to Almost Famous. 

 

 

[Avatree]

19 hours ago, Spaghetti said:

Team Egerton and Team Fletcher for life. The ending is maybe a bit forced but I'll be damned if it didn't make me tear up.

 

B+/A-

the ending is the only part that didn't work for me, the emotional climax of him "redeeming" himself and hugging his child version, just fell completely flat for me and quite awkward.

[filmlover]

A refreshing take on the musician biopic that tells Elton John's story in a unique and always interesting manner. This is the kind of movie that Bohemian Rhapsody should've been. The decision of making it a full-blown musical proves highly effective: I could just as easily see this being a Broadway show. Highlighting the film is an excellent performance from Taron Egerton, who brings Elton to life beyond mere impersonation and giving us a glimpse of the man behind the eccentric personality. His vocals are also even better here than they were in Sing. Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, and Bryce Dallas Howard all contribute effective work, but this is Egerton's movie all the way. B+

[Fancyarcher]

My review.

 

https://dailyuv.com/980160

[Avatree]

saw it a second time, very good.

 

The guy who puts his pint on Elton's piano in the pub and then asks a guy "You got a fag?" Those people are the worst, buy your own fucking fags ffs. Dickhead.

[Maxmoser3]

Taron Egerton does a good job as Elton John, the costumes are fantastic, and I love the musical numbers. The music number scenes were well shot and were great when they were there.

 

However, Rocketman is a stinker as a movie itself and biopic. The biopic story isn’t very interesting enough to keep in focus. Bryce Dallas Howard does a poor job as an Englishwoman, and isn’t a very interesting character as Elton’s mother. The rest of the actors outside of Taron, are not interesting and lack substance. The addiction angle wasn’t very interesting either, it felt as some filler.

 

Overall the music in Rocketman and the music scenes are great. However the movie itself isn’t very good for a first viewing.

 

grade: C 

[CoolioD1]

boring. they don't even have much fun with the musical sequences which is a shame. everything else is pretty rote. egerton is good. bryce dallas howard is probably the worst performance i've seen in a movie this year? i can't think of a worse one.