Review: Elvis

Elvis, directed by Baz Luhrmann, tells the tale of Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), a business manager looking for the next big hit to pay off his many gambling debts and evade his troubled legal standings. One day he stumbles on the golden voice of a young upstart amateur named Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) and sees a great future for him. The two become partners and the Colonel helps Elvis rise to the top as the King of Rock and Roll. But the journey is not without its hardships as the Colonel’s past starts to unravel, causing Elvis’s career to spiral down to its inevitable end.

This is the latest film from Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, who also made films like Moulin Rouge!, 2013’s The Great Gatsby, and that really weird modern day Romeo and Juliet adaptation from 1996. I’m not the biggest fan of Luhrmann’s frenetic style (I like my films to BREATHE every once in a while), but at least I can see his films being very appealing to the general audience. His latest film is just as flashy as his precious films, but in this case it does kind of work.

Elvis always presented himself as a larger-than-life figure on stage, and Luhrmann’s auteur style certainly compliments the King’s on stage persona. The editing, while a little too frantic at times, keeps the energy rolling and presents a colorful look at Elvis’s relationship with the Colonel. The film’s almost presented as a documentary, which makes this a little bittersweet as one of my main concerns is that the subject matter is far more interesting than what Luhrmann cooked up here.

Needless to say Austin Butler kills it as Presley. It’s honestly very hard to give a honest and serious portrayal of Elvis considering the fact that Elvis has been parodied and impersonated over and over again by everyone from comedians to street performers. Butler not only emulates Elvis’s showmanship on stage brilliantly, he also portrays Elvis as a very human artist who has genuine wants and desires that fame wouldn’t let him have. I wouldn’t be surprised if come awards season Butler’s name starts popping up for contention.

While I adored Austin Butler in the film, I unfortunately can’t say the same for Tom Hanks, who is arguably the film’s main focal point being the narrator and all. Hanks gives one of the kookiest performances I’ve seen this year; his “Dutch” accent gets really annoying over time and a lot of his attempts at portraying the Colonel as a sympathetic human being contrary to what many Elvis fans see him as fall flat due to how over-the-top he gets during some of the film’s more emotional moments. It also doesn’t help that the film’s screenplay, written by four (!?) different writers, was incredibly corny and contrived.

Overall despite its shortcomings and monstrous length I did actually enjoy a Luhrmann film for once. Elvis was just as flashy and energetic as the real Elvis and I honestly wouldn’t mind giving it a second watch. Sure there were a lot of corny moments and like most biopics it might’ve been more safe than I wanted regarding certain details of Elvis’s life, but it’s still enjoyable thanks to some well crafted montages, a killer soundtrack, and Butler’s magnetic performance. If this sounds like a film you’d enjoy go check it out and see for yourself.

Final Verdict: 6/10