Rated: M
Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Screenplay by: Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner
Story by: Baz Luhrmann and Jeremy Doner
Produced by: Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss.
Executive Producers: Toby Emmerch, Courtenay Valenti and Kevin McCormick
Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh.
‘What about you Mr. Presley, are you ready to fly?’
Written and directed by Baz Luhrmann (The Great Gatsby (2013), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Strictly Ballroom (1992), Australia (2008), William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996)), Elvis is a biopic told from the perspective of infamous manager, Colonel, the Snowman, Tom Parker (Tom Hanks).
Colonel Parker learnt how to shake a dollar from a punter while leaving a smile on their face working in a carnival.
When he saw Elvis (Austin Butler) perform, he knew all his Christmases had come at once.
And boy, could he make it snow.
The film has a heady introduction with cuts back and forth from glaring signs and bluesy music to revival tents and the young Elvis shaking those legs.
Elvis didn’t know why the girls in the audience were screaming, until a bandmate tells him, ‘The girls want to see you wiggle.’
Austin, who sang a lot of the songs himself, is so fresh it was like getting to know the superstar all over again. To admire the rise of this smalltown kid to become, The King.
‘That boy from Memphis,’ was put in the back of a police car after starting riots because of the way he moved on stage.
Elvis literally changed the world, embracing black America back in times of segregation while the Colonel turned his fame into a money-making machine: merchandise, records, movies, concerts, sponsors and then to the bright lights of Los Vegas.
The Colonel knew every trick in the book and then invented new ways to make money. As long as Elvis would keep getting up on stage.
In the end, we all know, it’s a sad story, but the telling is exhilarating.
There’s risk not only in making a film about the most famous person in the world, but then changing up the music, so the soundtrack has remixes from the likes of Eminem, Doja Cat and Denzel Curry.
There’s a combination of the blues from B. B. King and Little Richard, Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton with revival music and rap so there’s an edge to the tone of the movie.
And that flash back and forth, to time stamps becoming part of the scene to cartoon add to the pace only to stop in close-up of the smoky blue of Elvis’ eyes.
Has to be said, Austin’s great as Elvis. What an undertaking.
There’re cuts to Elvis himself and the heart still skips a beat.
What is it about this guy?!
He’s Elvis. He’s, The King.
