So I checked out the new Elton John biopic Rocketman over the weekend (and it’s taking me three days to work up the ambition to gripe about it). So this flick was directed by the guy who took up re-editing Bohemian Rhapsody after that flick’s director got fired. I say that as interesting backstory to a movie that really suffers from a lack of interesting things to say about its subject.
So Rocketman is the life story – up to a point – of singer / pop / rock legend Elton John. It follows him from a musical prodigy child to a talented singer who quickly goes solo, meets his life-long writing partner (who he never argues with), and really had very few actual problems and is almost instantly famous and loved. His daddy wasn’t emotionally supportive and his mom was a little mean… his first real boyfriend (I guess) was kind of a dick. And then, since it was the 70s, he got really coked up and drunk (shocking, I know) and goes into rehab. Which he handles just fine after some real on-the-nose cliched personal revelations, and then goes right back to being famous.
I guess what I’m saying is that, while I like Elton John’s music a lot, there’s not a lot interesting about him. His own personal self-destruction over very little is the only real roadblock in a 2+ hour movie that only covers the least interesting part of his life. After this movie ends, he gets knighted by the Queen, he sings at Princess Diana’s funeral, he does a lot of broadway, does that Lion King song, meets the love of his life, adopts two children, and goes to Disney World as a happy family. Probably might want to touch on any of that instead of the vast swaths of nothing that happens in this flick.
Now, if you like Elton John music, there’s a chance his classic songs will be enough to enjoy the movie. I like those songs but they weren’t enough for me. Interestingly, and this is not in the trailer, this is a full-on Hollywood-style musical. It’s not just a movie where Elton’s tunes play on the soundtrack or he sings on stage… this is a movie musical where people stop conversations to break out into song and dance numbers. It’s a jukebox musical like Mamma Mia… only it’s a jukebox musical about the life of Elton John where Elton John and friends stop and sing Elton John songs to continue the story. Kind of weird… not in a bad way… just odd. I will say that Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting sequence is really fun and energetic.
So, yeah. This movie has that inventive approach to its music and some occasionally good performances. But it just wasn’t enough to cover how boring the film is and how little of the interesting parts of Elton John’s life are covered. I guess part of the problem is that, you know, it really worked out well for Elton John… and for a guy with minimal crisis in his life (at least that they showed us), there just isn’t enough here for interesting drama. As pure musical, it still has to have a compelling enough story for that great music to drive. Very disappointed.
Score: 60