Entertaining and watchable, though far from reaching its potential

Rating: 8/10 (27 August 2019)

I'm not a fan of Elton John. Let's get that out of the way right away. I've always liked pretty much every one of his songs that I caught on radio or TV, but I never bought any of his albums, can't even name one. But I heard of and read about him everywhere when I was a kid growing up, on his heyday. So this movie looked like the perfect chance to know him and his music in detail.
It's impossible not to compare this biopic with Bohemian Rhapsody, since they are very, very similar in style, structure and pacing, and director Dexter Fletcher (he'll forever be Soap for me) is involved in both films. Freddie and Elton John were even friends in real life.
Rocketman is, when you look at it objectively, even more entertaining than Bohemian Rhapsody as a film, but it still falls into the same traps. Granted, a feature movie is naturally limited in its running time, so we can't expect to see every detail about these artists' lives. But it still feels kind of weird to watch them go from up-and-coming novelties to worldwide rock stars in the span of one and a half minutes (with nicely done montages) while on the other hand, so much time is spent on the addictions and the partying lifestyle. It's almost like it's not a movie about Elton John the musician, but about Elton John the addict.
The gay "love" scenes leave you scratching your head as well. We all know that Elton John is gay, and we also know that two men kissing and loving each other is the norm that Hollywood is pushing lately. But really, do we have to see them going at it in such detail? You don't have to be homophobic (I'm not) to find these scenes cringy and uncomfortable. Oh well, I guess the next biopic about a gay rock star will have hardcore scenes in it. The great late David Bowie, perhaps? (If they can find anyone that looks like him, of course. Even David Bowie didn't always look like David Bowie.)
But the pluses of the film outweigh the minuses. The music is immensely enjoyable, and the lead actor Taron Egerton, whom I admit I hadn't even heard of before, gives a performance that's stunning, to say the least.
I also have to congratulate Soap for something else. The AA meeting scenes which intercept the story are not distracting, and even the final scene where Elton meets the ghosts of his past, so to speak, and hugs the little Elton, are done well. They'd probably look extremely cheesy and cause more laughter than emotion in another film, but here it works.