Elvis has entered the building!
A few months ago I was excited to hear that Baz Luhrman was directing a new Elvis movie. I've always been a fan of his over the top stylised film making (Romeo + Juliet with Claire Danes and Leonardo Di Caprio being one of my favourites) with mix up of moderns soundtracks with classic stories making for a massive cinematic experience. I was nervous though that an Elvis film by Baz may turn in to a parody of the greatest performer in the world.
I need not have been nervous. In actual fact I think Baz may have toned down his style or perhaps it was naturally overshadowed by Elvis Presley's showmanship and style.
*Spoilers Alert*
Read no further if you haven't seen the film and you don't want to know anything about it (of course, we all know how this story sadly ends) but in my opinion, Luhrman made the film about one of the oldest storylines - good vs. evil. Elvis being the good of course while his manager was cast as the villain in this story. The evil of Colonel Parker was to be proven after the death of Elvis Presley through the courts where it showed that he took advantage of Elvis and mismanaged his affairs.
Austin Butler
The star of the show was Austin Butler who plays Elvis from his late teens to his death age 42. How this is achieved is through costume, make up and acting of the highest calibre. Butler exudes charisma and he develops effortlessly in to "The King". His singing performances are electric and capture the energy of an Elvis show on the big screen.
In comparison, Tom Hanks' Colonel Parker is portrayed as an unlikeable manipulative character who abused his power and position and coerced Elvis in to particular contracts and ultimately brought about the death of Elvis through overwork and keeping him drugged up through the shady "Dr Nick". Through the film you can see the manipulation by Parker as he plays on Elvis's fear of not being able to take care of his mother and father and the rest of his family in Graceland.
Director Baz Luhrman
I tried to just go along with the movie and not to analyse it too much, however, I did notice certain elements that I think Luhrman took artistic licence in these parts. For example, I think he put the song "Trouble" in too early in Elvis's career as I am sure that the first time this song was sang was in the film "King Creole" which was probably after his army career......but maybe it was put in to this film in an earlier sequence in order to facilitate a particular storyline. Anyway, I may be wrong but it was just something that jarred with me when I was watching the film. It was also news to me that Elvis's mother Gladys had a drinking problem, but it was something that was played up in this film so presumably it is something that is true.
Omniplex Rathmines
All in all the total film is a spectacular story of the legend that is Elvis Presley and I recommend you make a night of it and head to the cinema to see this movie (we had planned to see it in the amazing Stella in Rathmines but it was all booked out so had to go to the Omniplex to see it - this worked out fine as the showing we selected was in the big Maxx screen). Both my husband and I were in agreement about the excellent perfomance of Austin Butler but we had a differing opinion on the Priscilla character. I felt she was more believable as an older Priscilla in the later years of the 60's and 70's while Ciaran thought she was more believable as the younger Priscilla. There is so much to tell of Elvis Presley that a lot had to be left out, I was surprised to see that there was no mention of his relationship with actress Ann Margaret but I guess it may not have been something that Luhrman wanted to focus on and may have taken away from the story of Elvis being a "family man". I say family man in a way to emphasise the pressures on Elvis to take care of family and friends with lots of people relying on his pay cheque to be supported. I'm not saying this in a negative way but just more as fact. Elvis liked to surround himself by particular people and presumably needed to have them work for him in order to facilitate this.
So all in all, it's a 10 out of 10 from me for Elvis - let me know if you have seen it, and what you thought of it! It's a pure delight to watch with all of the usual Baz Lurhman "spectacular spectacular" elements (a scene that stood out for me was where Elvis went to his gun store, grabbed a gun and shot up the TV in Vegas - I had heard of this happening and had seen it in the Kurt Russell Elvis biopic, but I thought it was pure "Baz" in the cinematography and making the guns appear shinier and larger than life - it was reminiscent of the way he featured guns in his Romeo + Juliet film too). In my opinion it did justice to Elvis the world's most successful performer and perhaps the biggest star I will ever see in my life time, even though he was dead by the time I was born......which is saying a lot!
Anyway it's a "go see" for sure!
