Rocketman Review - The Best Music Biopic Yet?

Rocketman is the latest, and greatest, edition to the music Biographical Picture cinematic world, a genre that has seemed to be the obsession of filmmakers, critics and production companies for the last two years, and foreseeable future. The Queen Biopic, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' came out late last year to glowing reviews, endless praise from audiences and critics alike, and earned Rami Malek, who played Freddie Mercury, 'Best Actor' at the 2019 Academy Awards. 'The Dirt', the story portraying the career of Motley Crue had a straight to Netflix release in early 2019. The critics hated it, but audiences loved it, supporting a 39% critic verdict to 95% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So, Elton John was up next, so did Rocketman live up to expectation? Or is this too many Biopics concerning musicians all at once? Spoilers ahead.

The Official Poster for 'Rocketman' (2019).

Straight into it, Rocketman is fantastic. Going into this I wasn't very optimistic, Taron Egerton seemed like a strange choice to cast as Elton in my opinion. He doesn't really look anything like him, Rami Malek had a bit of Freddie Mercury about him, but here there was nothing. That does come across in the film too, with all the wacky costumes and glasses going on, you could've passed anyone with blonde hair as Elton in this movie in terms of looks, but in emotion and vocals, Taron nailed it and tied the whole performance together. He did all his own singing for this film, 'every note' as he described, and he's fantastic! It was a risky move, those songs, 'Tiny Dancer' 'I'm Still Standing', and my favourite from the movie, 'You're Song', mean so much to many people, and to not have Elton singing them could be looked down on, but it's hard to believe how accurate and brilliant Taron is at performing them.

Elton John (left) and star of 'Rocketman', Taron Egerton (right), at the Rocketman Premiere.

The story is told really well throughout the film. Beginning with Elton storming into an AA meeting, in a full brightly embezzled orange jumpsuit, complete with headgear and also orange devil horns, it's an interesting start. One of the moments towards the end of the movie, is Elton storming out before a show, due to constant pressure from the people around him, which leads to him bursting into the AA group, so the movie jumps around a lot, but it's all brought together nicely. In the beginning we see how discouraging his parents are of his piano playing, despite his talent and encouragement from his grandmother. The scenes with his Father all throughout the movie are horrible to watch, in a good way, a lot of family trauma and resentment was portrayed very well, too well in fact.

We see his friendship with songwriter Bernie Taupin, played by Jamie Bell, blossom beautifully and his traumatic loving relationship with manager John Reid, played by Richard Madden, fall apart before Elton's very eyes, as he watches everyone in his life turn on him as he fills their bank accounts. His Mother is so nasty in this film, you can't do nothing but resent her. Bryce Dallas Howard, star of Jurassic World, plays her, and it's moments like Elton revealing that he is gay over the phone to her, afraid to tell her face to face, when she reacts by saying 'I've known for years', yet followed by, 'Nobody will ever truly love you', that make you hate her. Throughout most of the film, we see how awfully Elton was treated throughout his life, and the drug and alcohol abuse that were also involved due to skyrocketing fame and fortune. It's an emotional roller coaster for sure.

Taron Egerton portraying Elton John in 'Rocketman'.

The movie ends with Elton and Bernie reuniting, following Elton's last AA meeting. They want to rebuild their friendship to what it was before all the fame and fortune, the drugs and the girls, to just write songs for the world. It's a beautiful ending to a beautiful film, that thanks be to god ended on a positive note. One interesting thing about the film, is it doesn't acknowledge in the story any mention of Elton's real life husband David Furnish. I thought that would be the ending, those two meeting, but it doesn't happen. Just before the credits, there's a montage that contains a picture of the couple, saying Elton is now happily married with two children and has been sober for thirty years, but the decision to not even include the introduction of David within the story is a weird one, possibly a sequel? Hell no, including Bohemian Rhapsody, these films should be standalone stories, not series'.

Elton John (right) with husband David Furnish (left), 2010.

So overall, any music fan will love Rocketman. Even if you've never listened to Elton John, this will draw you in and make you a fan. It's the best Music Biopic so far, and it'll be a tough one to top but there's many stories out there waiting to be told. I give this movie a 9/10, acting and casting is fantastic, production is great, and the story telling is just amazing. All round compliments, now give me my Nirvana Biopic, please.