Elvis is the newest from director Baz Luhrmann, and is (obviously) a biopic on the life of “the King,” portrayed by newcomer Austin Butler. The story is told from the viewpoint of Elvis’s longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks, donned in a distracting fat suit). I’m not a big Elvis fan, but I was hoping to be entertained or at least learn something. Unfortunately, while not a terrible film, I left the theater with a shrug of the shoulders, and a bit disappointed.
The film starts on the road, where Parker is managing country singer Hank Snow. Snow’s son tells the group about this new singer on the radio that is taking the area by storm; his song is basically on loop on the radio due to all the requests. Parker goes to see Elvis perform, and immediately sees someone that he can turn into a star. Parker gets Elvis and his parents to agree to a short tour through the south, and in a whirlwind of events, it isn’t long before Elvis is signed to RCA and is headlining Parker’s tour. The ladies are swooning to Elvis’s hip thrusts and gyrations, but the same thing that made him popular lands him in hot water. A senator threatens legal action against Elvis unless he can perform in a more “proper” manner. When Parker tries to tone Elvis down and get him to showcase a “new Elvis,” Elvis rebels and goes back to what made him a hit.
The movie goes along like this, showing various moments in Elvis’s life as well as his interactions with Parker, and later, his wife Priscilla and others in his band. It shows his time in Hollywood doing movies, and his return to music later, as well as his run of Vegas shows at the end of his life. It never falls into the trap of a “paint by numbers” biopic, where it just presents facts, and manages to stay entertaining through most of the film. However, Elvis did a lot in his short time on this planet, and the movie is long at 2 hours 40 minutes, and I started to feel it by the end. And that’s not the only thing I felt. Unfortunately I felt some boredom by the end too.
As I said earlier, I think I was expecting more from this film. For one, Baz couldn’t help but “Baz it up.” Some of the fast camera work and short cuts that made Moulin Rouge so fun just don’t work in the telling of a real-life person. I seriously don’t think there was a single camera shot that lasted more than 3 seconds in the entire film; the camera zips around, cuts to different angels continuously, and never settles on anything or anyone for too long of a time. This may work for the young tik-tok’ers in the audience, but it was way too distracting for me, and I never settled into it. I think Austin did a fair job as Elvis, but honestly I couldn’t tell you if it was a great acting job or not, because the camera never stayed on him long enough to showcase his talent. And there are other odd choices in the movie, like a visit down famous Beale Street in Memphis, with the sounds of rap music playing over the film. Was rap around in the 1950’s (/sarcasm)? It may sound like I’m ragging on the movie. That’s not my intention. Again, not an awful movie, but I think it could have been so much more. ★★★
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