A musical fantasia about Elton John's life that overdoses on drugs and sex.

Rating: 7/10 (19 August 2019)

Dexter Fletcher, director of the "Rocketman" is also responsible for rescuing "Bohemian Rhapsody" when its original director (Bryan Singer) was fired. It might be unfair to compare these two movies because they are the stories of two distinct artists. But, each film tells stories about a British gay rock 'n roll superstar during roughly the same period, each film uses an artist's hit song as the title, each film displays the artist's flamboyant on-stage and off-stage personas and each film has plenty of hit songs. Despite the high energy and exorbitant costumes and eye-wears, the Elton John character in this film lacks the exhilarating visual appearance compared to Freddie Mercury. Even though Taron Egerton (Kingman and Eddie the Eagle) is good at playing Elton John, he doesn't reach to the same intensity as Rami Malek's Freddie Mercury. Although this film doesn't whitewash Elton John's homosexuality, it doesn't really explore the theme any deeper than Freddie's either.
The enduring warm relationship with Bernie Taupin, his longtime lyricist, and the reliable and likable Jamie Bell is the solidest & warmest presence in the film. Ultimately, "Rocketman" is not so much a biopic as vibrant, full-fledged phantasmagoria of a movie musical. Also, with a piano man as world-renowned as Elton John, the songs should really speak for themselves in a biopic about his life but mostly they don't. The tunes sometimes take center stage, although the musical arrangements have been changed ... for the worse. Perhaps this is a sin to say, but "Rocketman" is one film soundtrack I never care to hear again.
The fact that Elton John is one of the executive producers and his husband David Furnish is one of the producers makes us wonder whether the film can be reasonably objective about which stories should be told in the film about Elton John.
Rating: For fans 8+, for us others 6+/7- and please lower your expectations.