The film is beautiful & has an electric energy, especially during Elvis’ performances, but it can't maintain the same enthusiasm it started with.
Baz Luhrmann takes a different approach to a biopic about Elvis Presley, honing in on the myth surrounding the iconic singer, but with all the style, glamour, and theatricality of his previous films. But unlike other Elvis stories, this one centers more on the singer’s shady manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who wants nothing but to tell the audience his truth about Elvis and the role he had in his life. The director, who co-wrote Elvis alongside Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner, embellishes Elvis’ life and career, but sidesteps a deeper examination of his humanity. The film is beautiful to look at and has a wonderful, electric energy, most especially during Elvis’ performances. But while Elvis sees a memorable turn from Austin Butler in the titular role, the film cannot maintain the same buzzing enthusiasm it started with.
The film begins with an older Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks under a lot of prosthetics), who awakens from his hospital bed to set the record straight about himself and his involvement with Elvis' (Butler) career. Parker was Elvis' manager for two decades, but he's frustrated by the rumors that say he killed the man known as "the King." And so the story rewinds to 1955: Elvis had a song playing on the local radio station and the Colonel, then a carnival barker, was taken by the young singer's energy and ability to drive the audience into a tizzy. He recruits Elvis to tour with him before quitting the carnival, dedicating his full attention to the musician who's got everyone talking. Elvis spans the singer's career, brushing past aspects of his personal life, including his home life — where he is a doting son to mother Gladys (Helen Thomson) and his marriage to Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) — to focus on the songs, crucial turning points, and the manager who used him for his own gain.
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Elvis has all the makings of a typical Luhrmann film; it has dazzling stylistic flourishes, its sound and visuals coalescing to make for something enthralling and exquisite at times, and the costumes, set designs, and overall production value are top notch. The director often turns the focus to Butler’s eyes, legs and hips as he twists and thrusts, driving the young women in the crowds to hysterics as they reach for him. Luhrmann doesn’t see Elvis himself as worthy of dissection, more concerned with the idea of the singer and his impact on the world and music. The framing of the sleazy, despicable Tom Parker as the narrator of the story immediately sets up Elvis as a victim of capitalism and the music industry using and abusing him. Luhrmann paints an awful picture, one that hangs primarily on the back of the Colonel. As a commentary regarding the music industry’s treatment of musicians, Elvis is not scathing enough, but that’s not exactly what it’s going for.
Elvis doesn’t avoid visiting the late singer’s musical influences, highlighting the ways in which Blues and Gospel impacted him and his style/song choices. To that end, Elvis’ time on Beale Street is also a big part of the film, with the singer shown hanging out with B.B. King (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and others. Luhrmann seems to understand Elvis’ musical influences and doesn’t shy away from the fact that he often re-recorded songs originally produced by Black artists, but, like with the rest of the film, nothing much is made of this information. The film largely sticks with a magnanimous take on Elvis’ personal history and music, blurring the line between the man and the legend, choosing to perceive him the way audiences always have without any further exploration.
These aspects bring the film down where it could have soared and its long runtime, which is certainly felt, doesn't help as the film meanders a bit through the second half. Those looking for a deeper read on Elvis as a man outside of his career might walk away disappointed. But when Elvis is firing on all cylinders, it really delivers the spectacle and entertainment value most audiences are probably expecting from a film such as this one. It’s dramatic in over-the-top fashion and it’s clear the writers have feelings about Elvis’ exploitation via Colonel Tom Parker, whose gambling issues and increasing greed make him an easy villain, especially when everything he tells the audience is not what they see play out in the story.
Austin Butler takes his role as Elvis very seriously. From his mannerisms to his gyrating on stage, Butler nails the performance overall, though it could have been more emotionally effective had the film expanded on Elvis' interiority. Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker is not for everyone and the actor's portrayal is occasionally, if unintentionally, comedic, like a mustache-twirling villain ready to pounce and take advantage of a situation at any given moment. It's also hard to gauge what Hanks is trying to aim for because the heavy prosthetics and makeup make it difficult to read him.
The film showcases its scenes through different perspectives — Tom Parker’s, Elvis’, and the audience (the ones watching from behind a screen and those screaming at the edge of the stage in the film). Cleverly edited scenes and montages cover much of Elvis’ life, including his acting gigs throughout the 1960s, while prolonged focus on other things such as his 1968 Christmas special and Las Vegas residency make up the rest. Elvis seems perfectly content being a glitzy, bejeweled extravaganza, even when the film’s nearly three-hour runtime leaves its energy — which never fully recovers after the first half — waning by the end.
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Mae Abdulbaki is a movie reviews editor with Screen Rant. She previously wrote about a variety of movies and TV shows for Inverse, CinemaBlend, Pajiba, and The Young Folks, where she wrote reviews, features, news pieces. Her other work can be found at The Mary Sue, Film School Rejects, UPROXX, Heroic Hollywood, Looper, The List, and Bam Smack Pow, among others. Mae has also appeared on television segments, podcasts, and panels to discuss all things entertainment.