A decent entry in an underserved genre.

Rating: 6/10 (26 May 2019)

'Rocketman (2019)' initially seems like a refreshing step in the right direction for the most consistently restrictive genre there is: the music biopic. Its fairly unique presentation as an actual musical leads to some entertaining sequences and the fact that it's frank about its protagonist's troubles is certainly welcome - especially coming off the back of its recent unavoidable comparison, 'Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)'. However, this is soon all revealed to, essentially, be nothing more than a veneer. The foundations of the feature are as rigid as ever, forcing the whole thing to follow the predictable beats of its predictable genre practically to the letter. It's actually quite remarkable how similar the lives of most music biopics' subjects are. Still, this isn't an excuse. The formulaic plot that this follows isn't just sub-par because we've seen it before, either. It spends too much time on John's childhood without really saying anything significant - at least, anything that couldn't be conveyed in a single scene or, even, line later on - and it seriously rushes the third act, placing a lot of seemingly important stuff in an annoying 'text ending'. It's frustrating because the style is quite appealing, it just far outweighs the substance and it didn't have to. The musical moments are entertaining and it doesn't feel like John was interfering with the narrative in any way - in fact, it seems as though it would be quite painful for him to watch. However, the musical segments don't do anything significant for the plot, either just harmlessly slotting into scenes or replacing montages where they'd usually be found anyway, and the honesty - which isn't typically absent from good biopics - doesn't do anything, really, other than make the movie feel a little downbeat. This is, again, thanks to the rushed ending; the majority of the film is dedicated to John's substance abuse and self-love troubles but these are all resolved incredibly quickly, if somewhat satisfyingly. I think the main reason that the flick gets away with as much as it does is the performances. Everyone on screen is great, especially Egerton (which is, incidentally, another cliché of the genre). It's also fantastic that he did his own singing. Generally, the experience is quite entertaining, too. It does wear a little thin, though, especially when you realise how closely it conforms to the tropes of its genre. It's just frustrating, really, because there are flashes of a much better film in here; the first few moments set up something quite counter-intuitive and potentially great. It's not great, though. Of course, it's not bad, either. It's a decent entry in an underserved genre. 6/10