Running time: 160 minutes
Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh
Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
The story: Elvis follows the rise of rock and roll legend Elvis Presley and his complicated relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker.
The verdict: Bursting onto the screen with whiplash force, Elvis marks a triumphant return to film for director Baz Luhrmann after a nine year hiatus.
From the opening shot to the closing credits, Elvis is a juggernaut of a film. It’s big, brash, vibrant and unrelenting - and boy is it good.
As with any biopic, audiences should be aware that the events in question will very likely have been overdramatised or sensationalised. Elvis does a pretty good job of not playing too fast and loose with the facts and the story being told from the point of view of Colonel Tom Parker rather than Elvis himself is a clever way of letting the audience know that this is only one perspective of a complex life.
Austin Butler is brilliant as Elvis. His performance is both perspicacious and impassioned and he really seems to embody the special quality that made Elvis so appealing. Butler has also embraced the physicality associated with Elvis and the concert and show scenes are particular highlights. Tom Hanks never disappoints and it’s great to see him in a role in which, rather than playing the more usual likeable and kindly characters he’s associated with, he plays a unscrupulous and pitiless man.
The technical elements of Elvis cannot be faulted. The soundtrack and score are fantastic, the cinematography is striking and spirited and the direction is highly accomplished. The substantial running time becomes completely negligible as the film sweeps audiences into the story and doesn’t let them go until the final scene.
Luhrmann has a knack for gifting audiences with larger than life films and Elvis is no different. A dazzling, theatrical spectacle - Elvis is the perfect example of a film made to be seen on the big screen. This is what the theatre experience was made for and Elvis is one of the biggest and brightest films of the year so far. Loved it.
The rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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