Rocketman (2019)

Rating: 7/10 (17 October 2019)

Directed by Dexter Fletcher. Starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Richard Madden, Stephen Graham, Charlie Rowe, Steven Mackintosh, Kit Connor, Tate Donovan, Celinde Schoenmaker, Matthew Illesley, Ophelia Lovibond. (R)
The life and times of rock star Elton John (Egerton), told largely through flashback from a rehab group session. Not so much a biopic as a musical fantasy, allowing the film to cleverly avoid accusations of being a "true story" with numerous historical inaccuracies (which it certainly has), or being a formulaic jukebox musical that trots out loads of popular hits (which it certainly does); music and image have a life of its own here, shattering the constrains of reality, informing the emotion and experience of its flamboyant protagonist, and giving the familiar songs new context and fresh voice (Egerton did his own singing). The scene near the end with Elton confronting the ghosts of his past is crashingly obvious, and certain episodes are brushed over too hastily (his relationship with eventual wife of four years, Renate Blauel, comes out of nowhere and ends just as quickly). Egerton is sensational as the music legend, inhabiting the role enough to almost (but not quite) disappear inside it; Fletcher (who previously took over directing duties from Bryan Singer on a different gay British rock n' roll icon picture, the greatly inferior "Bohemian Rhapsody") stages several visually exciting musical numbers both onstage and off.
70/100