There’s a dark side to this musical journey Rocketman, and Elton John (Taron Egerton) that will be undoubtedly be compared to last years’ successful Bohemian Rhapsody and Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek’s) Oscar-winning performance. The most-worthy note is that while Malek gives the better performance, it’s Egerton who actually sings his movie’s songs. For all of Bohemian’s sexy, pulsing, and explosive passion, Rocketman is a confident film that soars with imagination, colorful fantasy and a true understanding of Elton’s sexual preference that Bohemian lacked. But it’s Malek who possesses a sexy charm that Egerton lacks.
Yet, the most interesting comparison by far, is that both films – while so very different in style – have the same director, Dexter Fletcher. Remember, Fletcher stepped in to complete Bohemian Rhapsody after a Bryan Singer fall-out.
Before little Reginald Dwight (Matthew Illesley) morphed into Elton John, he was born into a poor family in Pinner, on the outskirts of London. His mother (Bryce Dallas Howard) was married to a brute, a bully, and an all-around MIA husband/father who took little interest in their child prodigy, Reggie. Where Reggie can play any music on piano by ear, most Upper East Side parents of Manhattan would set their sights on Julliard, but Reggie’s parents cast disdain on his scholarship to the Royal Academy after a piano teacher deems him talented.
The irony is despite his incredible and gifted talent, this child prodigy only longs for love, hugs and happiness. Something removed from his home except for his Grandmother (Gemma Jones) who seems to be the most supportive (and that’s not saying much.)
As older Reggie (Kit Connor) it’s Elvis and record albums that change his life, and he longs to leave his Bitch is Back mother where Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.
And, so the story goes…where familiar songs come into play in every scene that give the audience a new understanding of what the lyrics really meant. A man named Ray Williams (Charlie Rowe) assistant to Elton’s original manager Dick, never gets enough credit for believing in him all along. Reginald Dwight takes the stage name of ‘Elton’ (the ‘John’ bit coming from a photo on his agent’s wall of John Lennon.) Elton meets Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell), his ‘rock’ of a best friend and flat mate, but later meets John Reid (Richard Madden) a handsomely suited and elegant man who embodies Elton’s daddy fetish. The film’s saddest and most poignant moment is when the successful Elton goes to visit his remarried father only to find him with two new young sons whom he hugs and adores, all the things Elton always dreamed of. His father sadly refusing to yet be proud of his first born or to acknowledge his accomplishments.
As Reggie grows up to be Elton with all his flamboyance, his alcoholism, his cocaine and sexual addiction, as well as his anger management, it’s all those delicious qualities that allow him to create music to Bernie’s lyrics and be Elton John to the masses. But anyone involved with a true artist knows the more awards and notoriety that come, the crazier the person getting them. The artist must keep their painful past intact in order to create the music, the movie, or whatever the craft of that particular genius. It’s that longing for deep love and knowing even if they might be lucky enough to get it, they know they must somehow sabotage it. It’s the drama of the pain that makes the most successful artists – singers, writers, actors, continue to succeed. The calling of the self-indulgent and wounded ego is a difficult tale to watch, but when it’s Elton John’s story, it makes us curious. But, anyone victim to an artist knows that they gave everything to someone nobody could really have in the first place.
Taupin remains Elton’s BFF to the end, but Elton’s troubled life is always higher than his platform shoes. His outrageous costumes were a way of hiding the real Elton, someone he didn’t really like to be.
Screenwriter, Lee Hall (Billy Elliot, Victoria & Abdul), is a National treasure in the UK, does an incredible job setting the songs to story (Island Girl, Pinball Wizard, etc. though a little more Bennie & the Jets would have been welcomed.)
In the end, while Bohemian Rhapsody made our hearts soar at the Live Aids Concert, Rocketman shows an appreciation for the art of survival. Or in the final words of Elton John, I’m Still Standing. (after all this time, picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind. I’m still standing…)
Screen Queen sidenote:
Rich Stadium, Orchard Park 1976, I was a kid and it was pouring rain. As we stood there saturated, Elton John came out on the stage and threw a bucket of water over his head somehow longing to just be one of