Rocketman - Review

Is it just me, or do we seem to be in a phase of music biopics right now? Sure, we've had movies like Ray Walk The Line, and Straight Out of Compton, but just over the past few months, we've had movies about Queen, Motley Crue and now, Elton John. Are we looking at the start of a rockstar cinematic universe? Just add in my boy Phil Collins and I'll be the first in line for that movie.

All joking aside, because we have seen these biopics before, they tend to have very similar styles and stories associated with them and sometimes lines between each movie starts to blur. Each of these movies will show the lead singer's troubled childhood, their big break, "that" scene with the music producer who wants to change what the band is about, the first world tour, the band breakup, the drugs, etc. Right there, I described most of the movies I listed before in a nutshell. So while some people may see this trend as boring and predictable, I am always of the mindset that you can tell a story that has been told before, but what matters is that you tell it in a unique, interesting and entertaining fashion. Which Rocketman definitely does.

Taron Edgerton plays Elton John and it seems like he was training for this role for a while now. One, he is a young rising star looking for that breakout role to bring him into the mainstream. Yes, he was in Kingsman, however that franchise right now seems dead in the water and his Robin Hood movie didn't exactly help his career. Two, in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, he even played alongside the man himself and became good friends with him. Three, In the movie SING, he plays a gorilla who loved to sing, and what song did he sing? "I'm Still Standing - Elton John". So Taron Edgerton has bred for this role and man does he do a great job! This movie is going to automatically get compared to Bohemian Rhapsody because of how close they were released to one another and because they both are stories of British rockstars. So naturally, Taron Edgerton's performance will be compared to the Academy Award winning performance of Rami Malek. To be honest though, even with the somewhat unfair comparison, Taron Edgerton knocked it out of the park and was the perfect choice to play Elton John. He has the look, the tenacity, the spunk, the charm, and by goodness does he have the voice! He was fantastic and I believe he deserves an Oscar nod!

Like I said earlier, with so many different biopics out now, they start to blend together and feel similar. One thing that makes Rocketman stand out from the crowd is that it isn't simply a straight drama, it's a musical. Much like Mamma Mia! characters are interacting with each other and suddenly will sing about how they are feeling. For example, if a character sees someone they love go off with someone else, you might hear a random piano start to play Tiny Dancer and then the character proceeds to sing. With that approach, the movie has a very magical and fantastical feel and style to it.

Lastly, this movie really hit me because of the messages they preach. When deciding on what score I should give a movie, I always pay attention to how I feel when driving home to the theatre. This movie made me rethink my entire life, but it also made me think of how far I have come as a human being and how we all have the power inside us to change for the better. You ever have those moments in movies where a character says a line and then it send shivers own your shine because it feels like the movie is talking directly to you? This movie had that in strides! Not only is this a movie that's wildly entertaining, but it also is full of great messages that I believe all of us should hear.