Reviewing the Elvis Movie

After seeing the trailer for the new ‘Elvis’ movie, I was really intrigued, despite knowing next to nothing about the unfortunate crooner. From that trailer alone, I could tell that the actor who played the man himself was a close match and that Tom Hanks’ character, Colonel Parker, was very interesting, especially as it was implied that he manipulated Elvis. Then, seeing Baz Luhrmann’s name appear as writer/director, I had every reason to believe this would be a film well worth seeing. Here is my brief review of the Elvis movie.

In a nutshell

Baz Luhrmann is legendary in my eyes because of his epic Romeo and Juliet movie and Moulin Rouge feature. I had been wondering what he’d been up to lately and was relieved to see that he had put together a biopic about Elvis’s career. During the pandemic I remember Tom Hanks catching Covid in Australia whilst filming an Elvis film and finally we now get to relish the finished product.

Although I hadn’t heard of Colonel Tom Parker before, Tom Hanks played this character fully, even wearing a fat suit and changing his face to match. The Colonel was the person who discovered and managed Elvis right to the end, even after the singer had tried to relinquish his controlling powers.

This script focuses on how their working relationship began happily and then became fairly sour. I won’t give away any spoilers but let’s say it was a very manipulative situation and I really felt sorry for Elvis and began to revere Hanks’ character.

Thoughts On The Movie

The thing that really stood out for me was the incredible, fast-paced editing by Luhrmann. As an avid moviegoer, I am fairly analytical and usually notice the way a film is edited. In this case, you would struggle to not acknowledge the incredible editing skills of this cinematic genius.

In one scene he cut back and forth between scenes in the past and present while the camera seemed to be bouncing along to the rhythm. It was almost as if the camera was dancing at one point when Elvis was perfecting his hip thrusts and gyration.

Overall

Not being an Elvis fan, I learned so much about this very talented performer. Austin Butler played the legend very well. His singing, movement and acting were all outstanding as was Tom Hanks. The 2 hours and 39 minutes absolutely flew by and I was totally immersed in this story. You MUST find time to go and see this epic blockbuster. It took my breath away.