Retro Review | “Elvis” Is Fit For A King…Of Rock And Roll
Spoilers beware.
Elvis proves that Baz Luhrmann should direct every music biopic from now on. The 2022 Best Picture-nominated American epic puts nearly every other biopic of its kind to shame in terms of sheer energy, glamor, and operatic scope. Elvis is the rare kind of film that, despite having seen it 4 times in theaters, it feels like the first time on each viewing. Although not a perfect film, it stands head-and-shoulders above its mediocre, corporate-created biopic competition.
You can’t talk about Elvis without mentioning Austin Butler’s Oscar-nominated performance. Butler more than matches the energy behind the directing as well as the legend of Elvis Presley himself, delivering a powerhouse performance dripping with the swagger and sheer magnitude of the King of Rock and Roll. What makes Austin Butler’s performance even more captivating are the sequences where he performs on stage. Whether he’s singing “Baby, Let’s Play House” in front of an increasingly wild crowd, rebelling against the machine with “Trouble”, or returning to his roots during the ‘68 “Comeback Special”, Butler’s moves and little quirks during those scenes made me fall in love with the music of the icon.
A performance that I do not love as much is Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker. I thought it was fine on my first watch…
