Perhaps no one has a life story better suited to receive the Baz Luhrmann biopic treatment than Elvis Presley. The Australian filmmaker has a distinct, extravagant, over the top style that feels almost too perfectly suited to the larger than life King of Rock and Roll. Luhrmann’s style is basically the definition of “it’s not for everyone.” When it works, it’s inventive, dazzling, and engaging. But when it doesn’t…well, then it becomes grating and overindulgent. But that’s Luhrmann. He’s going to go full Baz, for better or worse. And some projects are better fits for that style. Elvis is one of those projects.
The story charts the icon’s (played by Austin Butler) life and career, from his youth to being discovered by his longtime manager (and seemingly all around bad guy) Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) to his early death at just 42 years old. And all of it with the signature Luhrmann flair. There are flashbacks and split screens and zooms and other twists and turns with the camera. For many movies, it might all feel like too much. But when the story is about Elvis? It felt completely natural. As does the extravagant (there’s that word again), bright, stylish set design. That’s another strength of the movie. The production and costumes feel like their own characters in the movie, adding personality to a movie already full of it.
And it of course also helps when your lead performer gives an otherworldly performance. Austin Butler truly disappears into the role of Elvis Presley, and the result is one of the best real-life on screen depictions of all time. As much as I love the Oscars, I usually don’t focus my reviews around the award season. But with Butler, even with half the year still to come, I’d be surprised and disappointed if we don’t see his name announced as an Oscar nominee come 2023. He’s perfect in the role. He’s magnetic, charming, depressing, he’s got it all.
Tom Hanks on the other hand, is awful. And that’s shocking. Even with nothing about the Parker character working, I would have at least expected Hanks to show up. Nope. Truly awful. But even worse than that is how Parker was used in the movie. He provides consistent voice over throughout the movie, narrating the events of Elvis’ life. And it’s brutally bad. For one, using voiceover is always tricky. Why waste time telling the audience something when it would be more effective – and more engaging – to show us. But it gets worse.
For whatever reason, Luhrmann decided to frame Elvis as Parker’s story. Nearly everything is told through his eyes and his perspective. We hear him speculating on what Elvis was thinking at certain times. Why? Show us Elvis processing his grief over his mom’s death, or what was going through his mind after refusing to cave to the “morality police” who tried to stop him from shaking his hips. Elvis not only ushered in a revolution; he was the revolution. Show us that from his perspective! Centering the story around Parker neutered so much of the potential emotional impact of what Elvis meant to the world, musically, pop culturally, and otherwise.
You can’t tell the Elvis story without Colonel Tom Parker, so it makes sense that he would have a major role here. But it was too much. Not only did it lessen the emotional impact of what Elvis was going through, but it also came at the expense of any meaningful development for any other side characters. You get bits and pieces of Elvis’ relationship with his parents, his entourage, aka the Memphis Mafia, and his wife Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge), among others. But it’s nothing that leaves any real lasting impressions.
It was especially disappointing to see DeJonge get such a short end of the stick. Her introduction scene is fantastic. She brings a new energy to the film that nobody else came close to providing. But then that’s it. From that point on she’s just kind of there. She gets a couple other big scenes, but those only exist to serve the emotional progression of Elvis’ story. To be fair to her, she’s great with her limited work; she’s getting everything she can out of her screen time. But that just makes it even more disappointing, knowing what she could have given the movie had she been given the chance.
But even with these (significant) shortcomings, there is still more good than bad here. Austin Butler deserves most of that credit. The over the top nature, i.e. Baz being Baz, fits perfectly into the tone of the story and its subject. The result can be uneven at times, but in the stretches where it finds its groove, it’s really something to behold and you “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
Score: 80/100
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