A Rousing "Rocketman"

It's strange to see "Rocketman," an Elton John musical biopic, so close after "Bohemian Rhapsody," the Freddie Mercury musical biopic, as they both share the same director, Dexter Fletcher, and some of the same conceits.  They're both about gay rock stars that get into trouble with drugs and bad relationships, losing their way at the height of their fame before finally coming to their senses. "Rocketman" is a much more consistently entertaining picture, without all of the production issues and slapdash filmmaking problems that "Bohemian Rhapsody" suffered.  It does not, however, have the benefit of Queen's discography, or any sequence as electrifying as the Live Aid finale. A few come pretty close though.

The biggest difference from "Bohemian Rhapsody" is that "Rocketman" is a full bore magical realist musical, often using Elton John's most famous songs to stage fantastical production numbers as it charts his rise to fame and fortune.  The "Saturday Night's Alright" sequence covers Elton's early days performing in pubs with jazz musicians, and features dozens of dancing and fighting extras. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" marks his falling out with longtime friend and lyricist Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell).  The title song, "Rocketman," starts with a trippy suicide attempt and ends with him literally blasting off from the stage of a Dodger Stadium concert into the heavens, representing his elevation to global pop superstar.   

Taron Edgerton was a good choice to play Elton John, handling the singing and campy onstage antics with ease.  I found him dodgier in the quieter scenes, mostly because he's a very good looking actor playing someone who's supposed to look schlubby and is insecure about it.  Still, he delivers a strong performance. I give full kudos to Elton John for signing off on a much braver depiction of himself than anyone in Queen was clearly willing to with "Bohemian Rhapsody."  "Rocketman" makes it clear that Elton is homosexual through and through, and a good amount of the film is spent on his sexual awakening and relationship with early partner John Reid (Richard Madden). There is, as has been widely reported, a tasteful gay sex scene.  And as the opening bit lays out, Elton was also a rampant drug addict and alcoholic, who only had himself to blame for his substance abuse.   

There's a very personal, intimate feel to the narrative, and it's structured like a confessional or self psycho-analysis.   A framing device features Elton in rehab, dressed as a bedazzled red devil, musing over how he got to this point. Occasionally, this approach can feel stifling, as there's a dearth of major characters and a little too much compression of the timeline going on.  Aside from his family members, John, and Bernie, we don't really get to see Elton interact with anybody else in a personal context. His brief marriage to Renate Blauel (Celinde Schoenmaker) is treated like a momentary lapse in judgment, and she barely has any lines.  However, Edgerton's Elton John is charismatic and engaging enough that he's able to hold everything together with the force of his personality alone.

And ultimately, this is why"Rocketman" won me over, despite my finding most of it pretty rote.  It's got a better sense of humor about itself than any biopic I've seen in ages. Even when Elton is at his lowest point, the movie doesn't stop dead to let him wallow or make major shifts in tone.  There's heavy material aplenty, dealing with Elton's awful parents (Bryce Dallas Howard, Steven Mackintosh) and his substance abuse, but it remains doggedly entertaining. The musical numbers are lively throughout, and really drive the movie once they get going.  I think the filmmakers could have gotten wilder with the fantasy sequences, but the movie delivers plenty of memorable visuals, especially in recreating Elton John's iconic glam-era performance outfits.  

The highs of "Rocketman" aren't as high as I was hoping.  During the "Tiny Dancer" number, where Elton wanders around a Los Angeles house party looking for love, I couldn't help but think of the way "Almost Famous" used the same song to much better effect, or how "Pinball Wizard" felt out of place outside the context of "Tommy."  A lot of the song choices aren't a great match for the action they're paired with, which is probably why so many numbers are truncated or feel perfunctory. "Bennie and the Jets" was a big hit, so they had to get it in the movie somewhere, even if it feels like an odd choice to back Elton's downward spiral. 

But on the other hand, the composition scene with "Your Song" is perfect.  And the bit with “Daniel” and “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” is cheeky and inspired.  And the "Rocketman" sequence really is something special. So, I recommend a watch, even if the movie has its rough patches.  It's a film that I don't think could have been made before 2019, certainly not in this form. A little compromise and a little eliding was to be expected. 

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