Rent Elvis (2022)

Sleepy (GI) Blues - Elvis review by Brummie

Way too long. Glad I watched it at home so that my snoring wouldn’t disturb other people!  Tom Hanks was as usual brilliant and the actor playing Elvis was excellent too. I agree with PV’s review too. Shame. 

Despite Butler's stratospheric performance, this film is as bloated as Elvis's eventual waistline - Elvis review by TB

Baz Luhrmann is truly cinematic marmite. His style, which is never boring & extremely distinctive, has as many admirers as it does detractors. My own view of him is equally as mixed: Moulin Rouge is a flat-out masterpiece, pretty much perfect & completely brilliant in terms of its execution & look, as well as it's musical numbers/wild experimentation of musical styles; William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is another great film, although I did feel that it was a little overlong & frequently meandering; then finally The Great Gatsby which was actually fairly unwatchable & I gave up on, despite the pedigree casting.

But when I heard he was directing an Elvis biopic, I was actually quite excited, as this sounded like the perfect project for Luhrmann to put his stamp on: one of the most influential, larger than life entertainers the world has ever seen, who's influence not only affected music but even subjects as controversial as politics & race. Also, the massive back catalogue of Presley's music would be rich pickings for Luhrmann. But this is another big misfire in so many ways.

However, it cannot be overstated just how incredible Austin Butler is as Presley. This is a chameleonic, Daniel Day-Lewis level performance, with not one element ever feeling forced or even acted. Especially towards the end, when footage of the real Presley is spliced in with Butler's performance, you realise the masterclass in acting that you are witnessing. If Butler continues on this trajectory, we are in the presence of the next De Niro or Ledger.

But the sheer power of his performance is a completely double edged sword: Butler is so good, so perfect & so flawless, the rest of the film and especially it's shortcomings are just completely exposed. And where to begin with them.

For a start, this film is far, far too long; an obscenely bloated & never-ending slogfest. At one point I paused it to use the facilities, thinking that it was relatively near to the end: it still had over 50 minutes left & I was half-tempted to turn it off. Also, as a film it is really poorly written. Our "guide" through this movie is Colonel Tom Parker, Presley's manager & the source of significant controversy, due to multiple allegations of his exploiting & mismanaging Presley/his vast fortune. The film for the lion's share of it almost seems to be a way to try to rehabilitate his reputation, although it must be noted that later on this pretense is dropped.

But Parker is shown as such an extreme caricature that you never enjoy his company & he starts to affect the viewing. I can see why Hanks was cast, to try & make him in some way likeable, but not even he can turn this ship around.

And finally, for me, as much as lots of ground is covered in terms of events in Presley's life, not much sticks. If you asked me now to name the most impactful moment of Elvis's life from this film, I'd struggle to pick one that really resonated, despite many of them that were thrown on screen.

Some people will absolutely love this film, whether for the large amount of musical experimentation, or the huge budget being used to incredible affect in realising the world that Elvis existed in (and to be clear, the film visually is stunning, which is a given for a Luhrmann picture.) But I just didn't connect with it really at all, which is a shame given my love for Moulin Rouge.

See it for Butler but not much else.

Hotch Potch - Elvis review by ef

A cobbled together history of Elvis. Not very accurate either. I would say it's been done on the cheap using clips from documentaries. Couldn't watch more than an hour, had to switch it off. So boring and misleading.

I'd like to give it no stars, but can't apparently.

alan

Pretty Average - Elvis review by MT

Found the film a bitty didn't really take a deep dive in to Elvis's true character. Didn't find Tom Hanks performance as Col Parker that great either.

Not very good and not entertaining at all - Elvis review by TB

I watched this in full only by watching around 20 mins at a time, I then turned it off and tried again from that point. Very disappointing.

Its a pity because it was an interesting subject, just not very well done.

Elvis - Elvis review by JR

The filming style took some getting used to as it used a lot of odd angles and there was a lot of mumbling. However, the rather tragic story was told well. Tom Hanks was amazing as the cunning and rather creepy agent. Most of him was prosthetics and he was acting with his bulked-out body and eyes. The young man playing Elvis was also brilliant.

It was an entertaining film but over-long.

Entertaining, Great Music, Average Mostly - Elvis review by GI

Whilst this is a big, brashly entertaining biopic about Elvis Presley it's not a film that attempts in anyway to tell his story per se. Indeed it skirts or omits many key events and doesn't ever get to grips with his physical and drug fulled decline only barely revealing these matters. The narrative here is focused on the relationship between Elvis (Austin Butler) and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), his manipulative and selfish 'partner' who liked 50% of the profits and 100% of the control. Hanks plays Parker as a slimy Bondian villain, almost a comic book Auric Goldfinger, whose odious voice and chequered history dictate his motives. With Butler, highly competent singing and dancing, but otherwise just competent portraying Elvis you have a colourful yet slightly empty film. Don't get me wrong it's entertaining, sad and uplifting at times but by the end it all feels a bit of a let down as if the intention was to create a concert film but forced into adding some 'story' to bulk it out. The highlight is the middle section that details the Elvis 1968 Comeback TV special in which Parker is hoodwinked into thinking Elvis will do a cheesy Christmas show when he effectively again showed what a great rock and roll performer he is. The breakdown of the Parker/Presley relationship is all build up and then another fizzle out. Perhaps I expected too much here but it's only in the end credits real footage that the full emotions of Elvis life are thrust at the viewer and it's a long wait for that. Overall this has merits, is enjoyable but it feels Director Baz Luhrmann doesn't really care about his subject.