All About The Music And That Works Here!

Rating: 8/10 (24 June 2019)

When I think of biopics, especially about musicians, I think of films like "Walk The Line" or "Love & Mercy" that told pretty much straight biography stories and then interspersed the artist's music at certain points. That is not the approach taken in "Rocketman". No, this one is all about the music, and because it's the legendary Elton John, it works basically as well as anything.
For a basic overview, this film tells the story of Sir Elton, both as a young Reginald Dwight (Matthew Illesley) and the uber-star he would later grow into (Taron Egerton). Many of his now-infamous tunes are covered in song-and-dance numbers, all painting a narrative of his struggle to make it in the music business, come to terms with his sexuality, and deal with drug & alcohol problems.
If you want a basic idea of how "Rocketman" unfolds, think of a movie like "La La Land", where it's basically a straight drama that routinely transitions into elaborate song. In this case, though, it could almost be better described as a musical about John that is interspersed with a little bit of bio. If I had list this under a genre, it would be "Musical" and not "Drama" or "Biography'. Normally, I have a feeling that this approach might not work for many audiences, but in the case of Elton John his songs are so iconic and cut through the generations that I feel the film-makers make the appropriate choice in putting the music front and center.
The bio material is still present, but in all honesty it plays out in pretty much cookie-cutter fashion, including the standard points of parental arguments, manager feuds, substance abuse, and reclamation attempts in the end. Whether this is because that's literally how Elton's life went or because the film-makers needed that sort of drama I am not sure, but fortunately those scenes are not the heart of the movie.
No, what you'll mainly take away from this experience is some amazingly-produced numbers of many of John's greatest hits (he had so many they couldn't all even be included!). I can almost guarantee that before you are practically even out of the theater, you'll be browsing your music subscription of choice for Elton John playlists.
All in all, I enjoyed "Rocketman" even more than I thought I would. I was worried that the unconventional approach would turn me off, but it ended up being the perfect choice instead. It may not be an incredibly deep-dive into the life of John, but it still hits all the necessary notes (pardon the pun) and provides some incredible musical numbers you won't soon forget.