Elvis

This review may contain spoilers!

 

Elvis is a biopic following the rise to stardom of Elvis Presley, chiefly narrated through the lens of Elvis' corrupt manager: Colonel Tom Parker. It takes a very long time for the narrative to find its feet but once the film confidently hands the story off to Elvis so we can see and understand his character it becomes a fascinating watch. You understand that in his time period the man was quite a radical type of entertainer, he pushed a perception of what was appropriate and revolutionized white America through the introduction of rock and roll. The struggles we see of Elvis resisting attempts to stifle his style of performance is fascinating, it's very bold and the repercussions quite unique. Ultimately the most compelling part of this whole feature is the relationship between Elvis and his manager, Colonel Parker. Parker is the money-hungry antagonist of the film, he follows Elvis around like the man is a money magnet. Watching the ways Parker manipulates Elvis and his image, the nature of the performer's very career for the sake of profit, is deeply disturbing. There are great punchy moments in the script where Elvis revels against his manager but ultimately Elvis is steadily beaten down and treated like a cash cow, the nature of his performance surviving even if the man doesn't. While I have few kind words to say about the soundtrack arrangement for Elvis none of that is really directed at the vocal performance of Austin Butler; the way he captures the sound of Elvis is worth the price of admission if nothing else. Baz Luhrmann is an experienced master when it comes to capturing a visual piece, he crafts a visual that moves with the story of Elvis while also highlighting Elvis and how Elvis affected others with a sort of reverence.

 

Austin Butler, who played Elvis, immerses himself into this role completely; Butler is at his best when he shows Elvis feeling caged and wanting to break out - truly impactful scene work. Olivia DeJonge, who played Priscilla, is a real powerhouse despite her small screen time; DeJonge presents a woman who is fighting for the sake of her life and those she loves. Richard Roxburgh, who played Vernon, crafts this father figure who feels utterly impotent and it's great; seeing Roxburgh become more and more crestfallen as he feels less able to aid his son is such a subtle yet brilliant performance. Kelvin Harrison Jr., who played B.B. King, is a real scene stealer in this and is far and away the best part of the first act; watching this man make cool and steady observations of the music scene and the world around him and Butler's Elvis marks him as a very wise figure.

 

However, the best performance came from Tom Hanks, who played Colonel Tom Parker. There is no one in this cast who has the same incredible range and years of experience that Hanks has, so it should come as no surprise that he steals the show. What may surprise some readers however, is that Hanks' character is the lens through which Elvis' story is told to us. From the top of the film Hanks introduces himself as this sly unreliable narrator. He is a distrustful voice dangling a good story before us, which cuts a great introduction for his role but also lends some intrigue to the start of the feature. As we go along we come to see the Colonel as a man possessed of immeasurable avarice, who preys upon people of talent to line his own pockets. The ways Hanks spins possibility for people sounds too good to be true, and it often is. The glee with which he saddles Elvis with merchandise and sponsors makes the main protagonist seem more object than person in the Colonel's eyes. Indeed, the last act of the film is a potent struggle between Hanks and Butler in which the Colonel pulls some extremely devious tactics to retain extreme amounts of control over Elvis Presley. A real reprobate of a character that it becomes extremely hard to even believe that it's Tom Hanks playing him.

 

This film is one I really grappled with, I didn't know a lot about Elvis going in so I leaned on what the film had to tell me. However, in saying that the first act of the film struggled to say much at all. Often Elvis was seen from a distance and it took a very long time to get dialogue from the man, let alone his first performance. In fact there were times throughout the piece where I felt this wasn't really an Elvis story so much as it was a film about Colonel Tom Parker and his exploitation of Elvis. The film kept showing big events in American history, such as the deaths of JFK or Martin Luther King Jr., and dangled them out as if Elvis was tied to those moments. But the film never really fully realises these moments it teases, in fact there's a lot the film teases but then neglects going into the more complicated issues. The most glaring one is Elvis and his relationship with the African-American community. Elvis performed a lot of Black music, took a lot of his moves and fashion from the Black community too. The film acknowledges that Elvis took his sound from "Black American Rhythm and blues" as Baz Luhrmann puts it, but the question becomes is that enough? The film identifies Elvis has these connections but it never shapes a perspective on whether Elvis was right to uses Black culture the way he did. It makes for a very murky start to the film, giving a real lacking sense of direction and sullies the protagonist somewhat. The film also quickly pushes Elvis into his relationship with Priscilla, but very quickly skirts past the fact she's 14 and therefore underage. This is a film that has identified one struggle with the Colonel that is easy to tell, and it's very clear by the final act that that plotline is all Luhrmann really has an interest in exploring. This is Elvis, but it's the shiny biopic that spotlights all the meaty bits and shies away from the tougher storytelling opportunities. I often found the editing style chopped and changed an appalling amount, nothing in these unique moments of transition or cutting felt consistent. The score had these big barrages of sound that could well have been from a blockbuster film and felt very out of place; the soundtrack having modern hip hop and Elvis covers spliced throughout was abominable. The film Elvis is curtailed by an Eminem rap song which might be the most appalling thing I've ever seen done in a musician biopic. 

Helen Thomson, who played Gladys, made Elvis' relationship with his mother feel almost creepy; Thomson rarely played her character in a way that spoke of affection so much as it did obsession. David Wenham, who played Hank Snow, is quite a muted character in the first act; his role doesn't really generate interesting conflict with Hanks at all. Luke Bracey, who played Jerry Schilling, gets pushed out as a main character quite abruptly and never finds his footing; Bracey is a tough sell as one of Elvis' friends because he has extremely little chemistry with Butler in their scenes together. Dacre Montgomery, who played Steve Binder, doesn't feel as worldly and as experienced as a musical producer of his calibre should; Montgomery really doesn't grapple with Hanks well and it feels like he should be pushing the role a little further.

Much like its depiction of Elvis Presley, this is a very wild and fevered biopic. I would give Elvis a 6.5/10.