Review of Rocketman (2019) by Bikerjames — 30 Oct 2019

This is a really difficult movie to critique. Elton is my favorite musician of all time. This movie is filmed in a fantastical musical style, taking leeway with the timelines of the songs. For example, they have him starting with Crocodile Rock at the famous Troubadour show that rocketed him to fame.

That song was written several years later and was never played at the Troubadour. The second half of the film is a complete downer, concentrating on his drug and alcohol abuse which is extensive. I can't help but think that Elton experienced SOME good times during this period as well.

He even toured Russia with Ray Cooper during this time, something nobody had ever done before that was never mentioned in the film. I was very disappointed that his fantastic band mates, Davey Johnstone, Nigel Olsson, and Dee Murray were never mentioned and they certainly had a part in the overall success.

As far as the portrayal, Taron Egerton does a great job. I honestly would have preferred he lip sang to Elton's songs, because his voice is nothing like Eltons and I found it distracting, but at least he can sing, and he looks somewhat like Elton.

Overall the movie was such a downer that it isn't something I would want to watch again. The movie seems to have been made with Broadway in mind rather than a straight up Documentary style. Not my cup of tea.