I couldn’t help but think of last year’s 70s rock biopic and juxtapose that with Rocketman. Both films have a soundtrack that makes you want to sing along with a lifetime of familiar tunes (ya know, for those of us at a certain age). Both films are highly entertaining. Both films show the dark side of success and the struggles of oppressed persons in the era. But as much as they have in common, the films are also strikingly different.
Rocketman takes a chronological view of Elton John’s life, but it does that, as did Bohemian Rhapsody, by taking liberty with the order of things. But Rocketman’s most notable rearranging is in John’s songs and when they came to be. (Bohemian Rhapsody did that too, but less notably to me than Rocketman; after all, Rocktman brings us the first Elton John song when John was but a wee one.) Rocktman’s creative license to rearrange the order of John’s songs not to show his release of the songs and their impact on musical audiences but instead to tell the story of John’s life. It works in doing so, even if the logical side of me kept nagging, “But Bernie Taupin wrote those lyrics.” Thus, no, the songs were not written to tell John’s story. The movie creator, though fabulously laid out many of John’s songs in a new order to tell the story. And it worked.
While watching Rocketman, I felt more like I was watching a traditional stage musical. And I can see this easily transitioning from screen to stage. Not only is the movie peppered with break-into-song moments with choreographed dance scenes, those scenes are the type that just beg for a stage. Granted, that makes Rocketman more of the fantasy-style biopic with emphasis on the fantasy that can verge on absurd. But it worked for me as entertainment. (I, after all, love stage musicals.)
A key in Rocketman is the glimpse behind the popular notions of John to see how great his musical gift really is. As with many biopics, I looked up a few things about the movie as compared to real life after seeing the film. It was refreshing to read that most of the musical parts were indeed born of truth, at least for the most part. He really can play a tune by ear hearing it once. And apparently he also can write music for lyrics on the spot.
The other side of the story, though, devastates. Without spoiling, I’ll warn you that John’s relationship with his parents and his first lover volley among abusive, belittling, and empty while stringing John (and the movie’s audience) along on a heartbreaking ride. The cruelty displayed brought tears to my eyes more than once. Is that part of the story true? Well, as you would expect with such a topic, sides of the stories differ. But I suspect that how John felt about those sides—his perception of those relationships—leans more toward how the movie portrayed things.
Rocketman did not wow me, but it entertained me. I expected that. It’s one of those films that is hard for me to rate: three stars? Four? I settled on three. (I’d really say it’s more of a 3.45.) Taron Egerton excelled in his role of John. And I look forward to seeing a stage version one day. But I’ll also say that it’s not for everyone. It’s not a linear, focused biopic of musical greatness. It is, after all, laced with fantasy and choreography. And in that, some audience members will be lost in the cheese of it all.