“Austin Butler, as Elvis, is superb.”
“My eyes were dazzled, I was entertained but I didn’t feel the emotion of Elvis’ tragedy. And we should. “
Con Nats
3.5 /5 Heartbreak Hotels
Elvis: the one word icon whose music rocked the world, the establishment and was crushed by the expectations of both. It’s a story that our Baz Luhrmann seems to have courted his estate to win over Priscilla and his family, and with this: his fans.
This seems to have been through a couple of scriptwriters and Luhrmann credits himself twice. He makes the interesting choice of telling the story in flashback through a dying Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). I wonder if this is because he had Hanks on board or because Elvis gave away so little, but it affects the perspective.
He still tells us how a young Presley (Chaydon Jay) grew up in a black neighbourhood and was taken in by their seductive and sweaty blues and spiritual gospel music in a clip which is repeated too many times.
Elvis already had a hit covering one of their songs “It’s Alright Mamma” with Sun Records before he unleashed his moves on stage and Parker noticed him. (Baz skips the story of how this recording was a fluke, but this is the Colonel’s story. Pity.) His star was soon shooting but he was only known in a few states. Parker changed that.
This film places Presley in the wider social context. Politicians pushing segregation also wanted him banned and put pressure on the spineless Parker who had the police arrest him on stage. He had to choose between goal or the army and so he was lost for two years. When he returned, he turned to Hollywood to make a series of forgettable films (although I still think Viva Las Vegas was a great comedy) but Baz glosses over this time and he was dating Anne Margaret. He focuses more on the impact of Priscilla, while ignoring the fact she was only 15 at the time.
And then the world changed. Martin Luther King’s assassination had a bigger impact than JFK and the hippie movement left Parker and Elvis behind. By the time of Robert Kennedy’s death, Elvis was shooting his Christmas special comeback (in leather). We saw the impact it had on him as a person, but Parker’s insistence he say nothing stifled him. It’s during this second act that the pace drops. Like his career, it’s when Jerry Shilling (Luke Bracey) and Steve Binder (Dacre Montgomery) revive it, the intensity and interest returns.
Presley’s slide into drug abuse is glossed over although the reasons for it are explained. His crushing five-year contract at the International Hotel in Vegas was the white jump suit stage of his career and his slide into ridicule. Parker and his gambling debts were the anchor on his international dreams.
This is easily Luhrmann’s most restrained effort yet. The trailer promises a whirlwind of montages and crash close-ups but it doesn’t quite happen as often as everyone seems to be complaining about. They’re there when telling of those crazy stages of Elvis’ life but it’s not as frenetic as the trailer or Moulin Rouge. It’s surprising when compared to the faster editing and pace of Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocket man. And it is Baz.
The script is quite reverent, and maybe it had to be to secure the estate’s approval. The question of whether Elvis appreciated or appropriated African-American’s music is firmly in the former, without being convincing. He returns to his gospel roots without recording any gospel songs. The script also occasionally falls into cliché. I never saw the relationship of Parker and Presley as kindred spirits of feeling like two lost children and to claim it was ‘love’ that killed Elvis is a nonsense. It was greed and you’ll have to decide whose it was.
By using the Colonel as our narrator, I never felt I got to know Elvis and key parts of his life are skimmed. It’s telling that a final clip of a bloated Elvis singing Unchained Melody in 1977 was an original clip. His voice still soared and I was finally moved… but this was archival footage.
Austin Butler, as Elvis, is superb. He has the swagger, the voice and brings out whatever shades of character he can out of the script. He played Elvis in the musical and nominations await. Tom Hanks has more to work with and the challenge of drawing an unlikeable character. He does his standard great job. Olivia De Jong is a very sympathetic Priscilla but is under utilised; Richard Roxborough feels wasted as Vernon Presley and David Wenham is better as Hank Snow.
Luhrmann’s team excels in the production categories. The sets are amazing – this was all shot in Queensland and I was convinced they shot some scenes in the US. Catherine Martin’s costumes shine, sparkle and pop and the music remixes of Elvis’ songs supercharge the scenes where Baz cuts loose.
It’s almost superfluous giving this homage to Elvis a rating. Fans and baby boomers will love it. A slow middle act and an inability to get inside the heart and soul of Elvis, the way we did with Freddy, Elton and Johnny Cash, left an emotional disconnect that fans will bridge easily but the script fails to. My eyes were dazzled, I was entertained but I didn’t feel the emotion of Elvis’ tragedy. And we should.
Con Nats, On The Screen
