Rocketman Review

Rocketman opens with a striking image of Elton John, played by Taron Egerton, strutting confidently through a hallway, halo lighting illuminating his gigantic wings and bedazzled horns. The audience is excited by the strength of this image and is already imagining him bursting onto stage and giving an incredible opening concert that shows the joy of performing that sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Each step with his platform boot is a beat working towards the legendary status that he has achieved. When he pushes through the doors, the audience is ready for a glory moment on par with Steve wielding Mjolnir in Endgame. The theater breaths in and-

Elton walks into an alcoholics anonymous meeting. This blatant subversion of expectations makes the audience briefly uncomfortable, but his clear inability to fit in is somewhat laughable. He stumbles into a chair, struggling to sit with his wings, and a giggle escapes from a viewer. He then begins to talk about why he is there. He says, with incredible emotion that builds at such a steady pace that the audience doesn’t realize they’re drowning until it’s too deep, “I am an alcoholic. And a cocaine addict. And a sex addict.” He continues with a list of vices, setting the timeline of events for the rest of the movie. This is the perfect tonal opening to this movie, because it’s expected to be a fun and musical adventure, but gives you unexpected seriousness and life.

Each moment of this movie absolutely bleeds heart. The joyful scenes are constructed of pure joy and those where he is falling feel like a hand pressed against my heart. You can clearly that the movie was made with care and attention by every single person on board. Apathy is not allowed on this train.

This is a musical. There are scenes where the main characters will burst into song and those around them will perform expert choreography; it is so much fun. This brings a new life to the story that Bohemian Rhapsody, as just a straight biographical picture, did not have. The use of popular music to carry the story forward gives it all the fun of Mamma Mia or Moulin Rouge; the separation from reality gives it all the style of The Greatest Showman; it has all this while maintaining the depth of a biopic.

Many music biopics follow a relatively similar timeline: the musician has a love for music that is not originally supported, but they go on to great successes. In the midst of this success, they forget who they were in the first place. They do hella drugs, isolate themselves, and eventually crash. They then beg for forgiveness and remember the music they loved in the first place. While not the fault of the storyteller or the subject, this formula can get a little tired. Rocketman manages to keep it fresh by incorporating the musical numbers as well as not remaining glued to the actual progression of events. Similar to At Eternity’s Gate, it is more about using the art to tell the story of a person than telling the story of a person with art as just a companion.

The style of this movie is unmatched. They had some big platform shoes to fill, and did not disappoint. Even before the emergence of Elton’s gigantic costumes, every scene is kept alive through the emergence of themes in costumes. Elton (then Reggie)’s mom wears stylish 1950s-Housewife dresses while Reggie dons a British school uniform. Every scene, if it were not already made fun by the fashion, is pushed over the edge by their outfits. The cinematography is also gorgeous, but it is beautiful for the sake of the movie, not just to be gorgeous. Every frame can be analyzed in how it represents the theme; it is not just pretty because it can be without contributing to the plot.

The film does not shy away from discussing Elton John’s sexuality. He lets down and is let down in numerous romantic relationships and the movie does not attempt to gloss over any of it. But the most important relationship is not romantic: it is that with his songwriter Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell). They represent to each other the ascension to stardom. Meeting at a cafe an hour before it closes and singing country songs to apologizing in the front lawn of Elton’s huge mansion, this relationship is life and love in all its glory. They have some difficult and strained moments, but what is so compelling is the magnetism in how they keep coming back to each other. At one point, Elton feels romantic feelings towards Bernie, which he kindly rejects, and their relationship continues from there because one cannot exist without the other, as they learn the hard way later on.

Taron Egerton deserves every bit of praise and more for his performance, which carries the tone of the movie so perfectly. With the extravagance of the story, it could’ve easily been pulled away from the person itself, but he manages to keep it intimate and personal, and can communicate so much with so little. There is one moment, perhaps my favorite moment from any movie this year, where he is being prepared to go on stage, during a performance of Rocket Man. People around him prepare as he stares forward with apathy. Everything is moving too fast and he is not really a participant so much as a mannequin. His face is stone cold as he walks forward. In the last second, he puts on the largest smile and walks out there, playfully swinging a baseball bat and interacting with the audience. The instant in which he transforms from Reggie Dwight into Elton John is amazing to watch, and it only lasts about a second and there is no dialogue, but it is impossible to miss.

I already want to see this movie again. I would be perfectly content with living a good portion of my life in the candy colored glory of this movie, in its joy and its despair. Because of the way that it is filmed, it is less like viewing a story through a fourth wall, and more like being at a concert: it is an experience. I saw it in an uncrowded theater on a Sunday afternoon, but I was still energized by being in a theater watching it unfold on a giant screen as the projected lights were reflected back to me.