The story of one of music’s greatest icons is a musical come to life driven by the excellent performance of Taron Egerton.
As a boy, young Reginald Dwight has always had a penchant for music. After a messy breakup between his parents, Reginald finds himself eventually being accepted into the Royal Academy of Music. There, he masters his skills on the piano as well as his vocal range. Joining a small-time band, he meets with various musicians who suggest Reggie changes his name. Soon enough, partly taking the name of one of his bandmates, Reginald Dwight becomes Elton John.
He becomes instant friends with Bernie Taupin, whose lyrics complement extremely well with Elton’s music. After a riveting performance at the Troubadour, he signs to a record label and begins his professional career. Soon enough, manager John Reid comes into the fray and despite Elton and John having a tumultuous affair, Elton soon begins to revel in his newfound fame and the excesses that go with it. However, as time goes on, Elton soon begins to feel the effects of his excesses and makes a life-altering decision that will change everything.
With the rousing success of Bohemian Rhapsody, which revolved around Queen and Freddie Mercury, the man who would take over directing after original helmer Bryan Singer was fired would take advantage by directing a biopic on another music icon, Elton John. Dexter Fletcher, however, does something very different with this film as opposed to his takeover on the previous film. For this film, using Lee Hall’s script, the story of Elton John turns into a musical coming to life, with all of John’s iconic tunes being mixed in with the storytelling portion of the film, which is set from Elton’s childhood to the early 1980s, where he makes a decision that changes his life forever.
With his performance as Johnny in Sing, where he astounded fans with his rendition of “I’m Still Standing”, it’s no surprise that Taron Egerton would be suited to bring the role of Elton John to life. And not only did that happen, but it was done with John’s full support and blessing. Egerton is amazing as John, who is seen going through the excesses of fame and revels in the fame until a series of incidents causes him to go rock bottom and thus, forcing him to make the biggest decision of his life. Egerton performs the songs all himself and proves he is not just an excellent actor, but a great singer as well.
Jamie Bell gives great support as lyricist Bernie Taupin, who becomes and to this day, is still John’s brother in arms. Richard Madden, as John Reid, engages in a very controversial scene with Egerton that caused some uproar in terms of its release elsewhere. However, Reid may seem to have this thing for John but it soon becomes more than expected and not so much in a glamorous way. Bryce Dallas Howard plays Elton’s mother as a woman who totally despises her ex-husband and lets John know that as well as has a tendency to be both excited and embarrassed by her son’s actions later in life. They all provide excellent support for the even more excellent Egerton, who couldn’t have been better cast.
Rocketman definitely belongs on a double bill with Bohemian Rhapsody with Taron Egerton being the perfect casting when it comes to playing Elton John. Add to the fact that he has an excellent supporting cast and even proves himself to be a great singer. This is definitely one musically-filled biopic worth seeing.
WFG RATING: A
Paramount Pictures a New Republic Productions film in association with MARV and Rocket Pictures. Director: Dexter Fletcher. Producers: Matthew Vaughn, David Furnish, Adam Bohling, and David Reid. Writer: Lee Hall. Cinematography: George Richmond. Editing: Chris Dickens.
Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, Gemma Jones, Steven Mackintosh, Tom Bennett, Matthew Illesley, Kit Connor, Charlie Rowe, Pete O’Hanlon, Tate Donovan.
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