Starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, and Helen Thomson
Directed by Baz Lutherman
Music and Lyrics by various
Elvis Presley's mythos and the history surrounding his tragic life is far more compelling than any of his movies. Baz Lutherman, a director who shares Presley's fondness for glitter and flare for the dramatic, wanted to direct a film about his life back in 2014, but didn't get the right cast until 2019...and then the pandemic hit. Filming began in Australia in 2020, but wouldn't conclude until March 2021. It finally debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022 and then to the general public in June. Is it worthy of all that acclaim and popularity, or should it leave the building? Let's begin, not with the King of Rock, but with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Hanks), now a lost man in the late 90's, who tells his story after a stroke...
The Story: Parker met Elvis Presley (Butler) when he played for the radio show Louisiana Hayride in 1954. Elvis' raw sexuality and strong talent so impressed Parker, he became his sole manager and brought him as an attraction for country star Hank Snow. Presley, for his part, wants to sing and get his family out of the gutter, especially his beloved mother Gladys (Thomson). Presley's influenced by the Captain Marvel Jr. comics he read as a child and his fondness for African-American music, especially on Beale Street in Memphis.
Parker understands none of this. He only sees that Elvis' swinging hips and rockabilly sound may be wildly popular with teens, but it's also making him very unpopular with adults and politicians who want to keep the south segregated. He finally drafts Elvis into the Army to keep him out of trouble.
Elvis is devastated when his mother dies of alcoholism during his Army stint. Pretty, sassy teen Priscilla (DeJonge) helps him recover. He marries her despite the difference in their ages. Even after he gets out of the Army, Parker keeps pushing him into increasingly silly comedies. Fed up and wanting to keep up with the times, Elvis convinces producer and director Steve Binder (Dacre Montgomery) to turn Parker's corny Christmas special into a sexy showcase that proves he still has what it takes to be a hit. Parker's angry at first, but then parlays his success into a permanent show at the International Hotel in Vegas. That early success turns into a morass of broken promises and drugs and alcohol as Priscilla finally gets fed up and leaves, and Elvis realizes just how much Parker is riding off his talent.
The Song and Dance: It may have taken them a while to find their Elvis, but it was worth the wait. Butler is incredible as the King, especially in the first half, when he was young, overwhelmingly sexy, and bewildered with everything going on around him. (He's so perfect, you can barely tell when they transition from him to the real Elvis singing "Unchained Melody" in the finale.) Hanks more than matches him in what amounts to the bad guy role as the carnival "snowman" who keeps burying Elvis under his avalanche of lies. The costumes and sets gorgeously recreate Elvis' world through the years, from his baggy shocking pink suits and grimy arenas in the mid-50's to the infamous sequined jumpsuits and huge Vegas showrooms of the mid-70's.
Favorite Number: The young Elvis is introduced to two of his major influences - African-American culture and gospel - in "The King and I" as he's literally carried away by the music and the performers' unbridled joy. Rapper CeeLo Green leads the choir. Elvis says "Baby, Let's Play House," and the girls at the otherwise-staid Louisiana Hayride show are ready to do just that. He'd always sung ballads on TV before, but on The Milton Berle Show, he opts to sing "Hound Dog" with his famous gyrating hips going...and it's those hips and their sexuality that creates all of the fuss later.
Fleeing a second disastrous appearance in a tux and tails, he returns to Beale Street. We get a series of songs from prominent R&B and rap singers as he and B.B King discuss the importance of creative freedom, including a rowdy "Hound Dog" from the late Shonkah Durkeah. Elvis gets to see Little Richard's (Alton Mason) intense and sexual performance of "Tutti Fruitti" and realizes why people reacted to his dancing the way they did. His rocking "I Got a Feelin' In My Body" at a concert almost literally brings the house down, causing a riot and ending with him in jail.
"Can't Help Falling In Love" plays when Elvis first dates Priscilla, and is often heard in the background when they're together. "Edge of Reality" and "Summer Kisses" takes us into a quick montage of Elvis' films, showing how his occasional dramas and westerns were taken over by colorful, empty comedies like Clambake. Songs from his 1968 "Comeback Special" turn Parker's conservative cozy sweater dreams into a showcase for the King's real allure, culminating in his protest number "If You Can Dream" with him in white against a massive red "ELVIS" backdrop. The Vegas residency begins well, with the hits "Suspicious Minds" and "Burning Love" and him in a simple blue fringed jumpsuit. As the jumpsuit gets glitzier, the performances become rougher and more desperate, culminating in that last "Unchained Melody" that gives us a glimpse of the real Elvis shortly before his untimely death in the finale.
Trivia: In real-life, The International Hotel changed owners and became the Las Vegas Hilton two years into Elvis' residency. It's now known as the Westgate Las Vegas. While his suites were demolished in 1994, the International Theater where he played still exists and looks very much like it does in the film.
What I Don't Like: I appreciate their attempts at connecting Elvis' story to the here and now, with it's emphasis on his super heroic qualities and relationship with black performers, but I can't help but feel this may be a little shoehorned in to make Elvis' music more "relevant." (On the other hand, it does give us Mason's equally accurate and amazing Little Richard and that great "Tutti Fruitti.") Putting the focus on his partnership with Parker comes at the expense of other characters. We don't really get to know much about his relationship with his parents, Priscilla, their beloved daughter Lisa Marie, or his buddies "The Memphis Mafia."
In fact, we don't really get to know much about Elvis at all. The film doesn't say anything you can't glean from websites and books on his life. The second half, after the 68 Comeback Special, is where this one falters. The melodrama is overwrought; I'd rather hear more about Elvis' struggles with alcohol, drugs, and food than about how Parker thought he pulled the wool over everyone's eyes. Rather like Elvis' Vegas residency, the second half just drags on and on.
The Big Finale: Your interest in this movie depends heavily on how much you love Elvis, rap, huge musicals, and/or Lutherman's glitzy style. If you're a fan of one or more of those things, gyrate over to your nearest theater, before Elvis leaves the building.
Home Media: It'll be available for online rental and purchase August 9th and on disc September 13th. For now, its soundtrack is a best-seller at Amazon.
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