Elvis movie review - Aussieboyreviews
IS IT WORTH OVER 2 HOURS FOR A BIOPIC MOVIE ON ELVIS?
Actually, no it’s not. Baz Luhrmann’s uninteresting, dull and horridly stylish biopic movie on Elvis Presley is an overrated disappointment. It lacks proper connection and is way overlong.
Storyline
Elvis Presley’s rise to fame from his childhood to becoming a rock and movie star, whilst maintaining a complicated relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Cast: Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison Jr., David Wenham, Luke Bracey
Writer: Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, Jeremy Doner
Release Date (Australia): 23 June 2022
Runtime: 159 minutes/2h 39m
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Australia, USA
Language: English
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
Thematic material includes substance abuse, alcoholism, relationship disputes and death. The film also contains references to assassination and racism.
The film contains mild violence in the form of depictions of riots.
The film contains use of the words “goddamn”, “s**t”, “bitch” and “ass”, in addition to a single use of the word “f**k”.
The film contains mild verbal references to drugs and scenes in which the character abuses medications.
None.
The film contains scenes in which a men and women engage in sexual activity.
mpaa rating
PG-13 (for substance abuse, strong language, suggestive material and smoking)
Aussie boy's thoughts
Baz Luhrmann ruins the biopic movie of Elvis Presley by crafting it as a 2-and-a-half-hour long music video. It’s a real shame because it could’ve easily been so much more than what it was and could’ve done so with a shorter runtime, one example being similar to the setup of the 2019 biopic movie Rocketman. The only real spark that carries Elvis is the fact that actor Austin Butler looks like and even sings very similarly to Elvis Presley in this movie, which ends up leading you to feel very strongly that what’s happening on the screen is every direct moment in Elvis’ life, but you remember it’s all acting and filmmaking if you just snap out of it.
But Butler’s the only reason AND actor who brings any true feeling to this movie. Tom Hanks is laughably terrible in this movie, and it’s honestly more because of the screenwriting than his actual performance. But his ridiculous voice in this movie is horrendously hard to make some kind of English words out of. Another perk about the film is how it’s good at dealing with thematic elements, but this is overtaken by the way many scenes are just built as convoluted montages and the forgettable direction.
The biggest problem about the film is how it’s more of a biopic for Colonel Tom Parker, since he’s the one doing all of the narration and the story keeps at his pace, not Elvis’. And telling the story from his point of view completely blocks getting to see and understand Elvis’ problems, because there’s only few section in the movie where the screen-time is focused on him. This is just a mess of a biopic movie that shouldn’t be receiving all the attention it’s getting.
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