Elton John is amazing, and a complicated man....this film reflects his tormented side

Rating: 8/10 (31 December 2019)

Taron Egerton's portrayal of Elton John is superb and only heightened by the producers allowing Taron to sing his own versions of many of Elton John's classic hits. It would be impossible to capture all aspects of Elton John's life in the 2 hours provided in this musical/biographical film, so instead the producer/writer/director concentrated on Elton's early childhood which helped shape his destiny when he first met his partner in song writing the great Bernie Taupin played by Jamie Bell.
There were far too many other excellent performances from the supporting cast members to mention them all but I have to mention two in particular who were top notch. Bryce Dallas Howard plays Elton's irresponsible (wife cheating) mother, and Richard Madden who plays John Reid one of Elton's early but serious lovers remained Elton's manager for decades after their sexual relationship ended. Both of these actors added a lot to the films depth in the one area that focused on Elton's tormented soul and lead him to binge drinking and pill popping which is the area this film reflected.
I hope we don't have to wait for Elton John to pass away (God forbid) before some producer realizes that Elton John and Bernie Taupin whose lifestyles and personalities are so diametrically opposite that they deserve their life stories to be developed into a (minimum) ten (10) hour TV Mini-Series to cover a heck of a lot of both of these musical genius's personal lives as well as their successes with their musical portfolios.
Rocketman is well worth seeing and rates an 8 out of 10 in my version of Elton John's quasi autobiography book.