If you went in expecting a documentary ( like I did the first time ) you will hate it ( like I did ). It's a musical fantasy where the songs are used to tell a story. Timeline is distorted, events are made up and some are changed, lyrics are slightly changed to fit the events in the scene. Ultimately its what Elton wanted. I saw it 2 more times and have accepted it for what it is. It's not the movie I expected/wanted but it is very good. I thought it was getting very tedious during the last 30 minutes of his drug and alcohol use but last 15 minutes redeems it during the scene where Elton confronts everyone. The I'm Still Standing ending was terrific even if out of step with actual timeline.
I caught Rocketman yesterday. Knew exactly what to expect and I was good with what I saw. I would really like to see this as a live stage production which I assume will become so in the not too distant future.
My wife forced me to watch the blu-ray this weekend--she's the huge Elton fan and for whatever reason loves this film. I thought it was incredibly annoying--being a musical format for one, which I loath in general--and being so random in the timelines (for even as non-fan as I am of his music). I must have fallen asleep for at least the last 20 minutes of the film because I don't remember anything for a huge stretch of time until becoming conscious again during I'm Still Standing. Certainly not going to watch it again to see what, if anything, I probably didn't miss in the long run. Going in I basically knew what to expect, but it was even worse than I was expecting. Bohemian Rhapsody was an awful film too, but if I was forced to choose I would watch that again over this stinker.
That comment relates to Madden's own signing in the movie. I don't think it's fair to use them to relate to Egerton's vocals as well...
I just watched this today. I agree with your post. I was moved in the same places you were and came away with a lot of empathy for Elton. I think Taron Egerton did an amazing job. I'm a fan of his, and he didn't even look like himself. In my mind, I really believed he totally became Elton, and it didn't feel like I was watching an impersonation. Although, he could have put on a few more pounds for the role. He doesn't have the voice Elton has, but I still think he did an admirable job in performing those songs. And Elton's friendship with Bernie was very moving. I loved the whole musical aspect of it as a movie.
Right, because every film about a musician is (or should be) a song and dance musical format like Guys and Dolls, or West Side Story.
have to own this soon! Elton's music was with me since I was a teen...big fan...my wife is looking forward to seeing this as well...Yellow Brick Road for her!
I'm sure I will watch this movie again. Taron blew me away as Elton. He's a really strong actor. The scene where Elton, as an adult, went to visit his father was like an emotional sucker punch. That's when you realize what a tremendous actor Taron is. And I had no idea Elton's father never went to seen him perform. Bernie mentioned in an interview that that was true. And all of those great songs just makes me want to see it again sometime. And Jamie Bell did a wonderful job as Bernie Taupin.
So I’ve never been of the belief that there was a “Beatles of the ‘70s.” But Elton John was probably as close as it got. Tons of female fans, songs people could singalong with and so on.... Did that really come across in this POS movie? I mean, this says more to me in 2 minutes about Elton John’s reach than this movie did in two hours. Would this not fit with the “poor superstar me” narrative they went with? His mom singing along wouldn’t fit with their “I’m miserable” musical? I know he and his mom had huge problems but this was also a part of the story and it’s on film for crying out loud. He flew his family and friends over to LA for those Dodger Stadium shows! What a wasted opportunity.
after we see this a comment can be made...now I am in the dark other than comments being made both positive and negative which is good...thanks...: )
me too! I'm thankful everyday that I have her with me...we performed together, wrote together, recorded together and had a beautiful Son together...I have been truly blessed...there have been extremely rough times, but we always stuck together through it all. : )
Not seen the whole thing yet but the clips look good. I’m a casual fan, so won’t be offended by chronological slips. From what I’ve seen, Reg’s control over the film allows him to give both barrels to his parents, who come over as cold, emotionally distant and uninterested in his music.
Okay. So now I watched Bohemian Rhapsody today. Everyone I know loved that movie, and, for me, it was just okay. I don't get all of the love for it. I couldn't get away from feeling that Rami Malek was playing a caricature of Freddie Mercury. It was definitely a milquetoast version of their story. The script was very average. Rocketman was a far better movie, with I think better supporting actors. And Taron was Elton for me during the movie. I never felt that way with Rami playing Freddie.
I wonder how many people who didn't care for it simply don't care for how musicals or fantasies tend to be put together. I don't mean to imply that people who are generally into musicals and/or fantasies won't have criticisms, but a lot of the criticisms I've seen (not just here) seem to fall outside the scope of the intent of the film. This is a movie where the protagonist dives into a pool, then sings a duet with a younger version of himself that's wearing an old fashioned diving suit. I have to say I find it kind of odd that people have an issue with Elton playing Crocodile Rock at the Troubadour, when the audience in the same scene literally floats through the air. It's a little like some of the complaints I saw over some of the newer Star Wars movies. Women fighting in the desert is weird, but ADHD space hamsters are perfectly fine.
Why? These are completely different things. The audience floating in the air IMO was cheesy and a poor creative exercise, but the idea that if one is bothered by a song not yet written being played at the show because it didn't happen, that one must also be against the audience floating because it also didn't or couldn't happen - or that the audience doing something it didn't or couldn't actually do is therefore license to play songs that weren't or couldn't have been on the bill at the show, is utter garbage. The audience floating was using fantastical imagery to depict the scene; an obvious exaggeration to convey the energy/magic of the room and the moment. What is the purpose of playing Crocodile Rock, however? Is it to exagerrate the quality of the songs that were actually played, because none of them were as good? Seems like a stretch. Hopefully it's not the indefensible laziness of "well, the audience also floated in the same scene, so, you know, *obviously* nothing that actually happened is being depicted here so just, you know, deal with it, man."
The songs he played at those shows were as good (frankly, better) than Crocodile Rock: Your Song Bad Side of the Moon Sixty Years On I Need You to Turn To Border Song Country Comfort Take Me to the Pilot Honky Tonk Women Burn Down the Mission / Get Back ...but none of them would have worked with a floating audience. Not even close. The tone is radically different. I'm saying that I find it odd that poetic license is fine for things like the laws of gravity, but not the timeline. That's not "indefensible laziness," that's literally what the film is made of. It opens with flagrant, enthusiastic absurdity and never pretends to be anything else. I'm not saying that anybody has to like it or anything, but it strikes me as similar to complaining about a lack of love songs on a Motörhead album. Love songs ain't the goal.
More utter garbage. Your Song? Take Me to the Pilot? Burn Down the Mission? Seriously, come on. All would have worked perfectly fine. Better than Crocodile Rock, certainly - a song that many Elton John fans don't think is any good, anyway. And if we're not being limited to songs that actually were played at the Troubador, then what about the titular song itself? Wouldn't that have been - I don't know - a *great* time to use it? Crocodile Rock was an incredibly bad choice for that scene, on a few levels - not the least of which is that not only wasn't the song played at that show, the song had yet to be written. Most people would consider that sort of thing important, especially since the song for which the rules were broken to get it into the scene didn't even work in the scene.
