Elvis
The mile-a-minute, never let up pace of the film (along with the myriad OTT Baz Luhrmann stylistic choices) may not be for everyone, but Austin Butler delivers an utterly convincing, enthralling take on the King that screams “a cinematic experience that can’t be missed”.
Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) is searching for his next big thing when he comes across a shy young guy named Elvis (Austin Butler), who has a talent for captivating audiences with his rock and roll music. The film charts The Colonel’s shepherding of Elvis through his life and career; from making him a star, to dealing with the backlash to Elvis’ ‘moves’, his turn in the army, and his eventual run on the Vegas Strip. It also focuses on the relationship between the two characters, and The Colonel’s underhanded tactics and motives to keep Elvis from pursuing his international dreams, causing Elvis to use alcohol, food and drugs for solace, and ultimately leading to his demise.
Elvis, much like some of Baz Luhrmann’s other recent work, is incredibly stylised, fusing the modern with the classic in a way that isn’t to everyone’s taste. Here, that flair is on full display, with the first 1 and a half hours of the film feeling like a never-ending trailer; Elvis tunes underneath the main storyline, overlaid with graphics, title cards, and random montages, combined with remixed versions of Elvis classics with Doja Cat. It’s all a chaotic, messy, at times sloppy, introduction to the film, and combined with the truly terrible fat suit Tom Hanks wears in his ridiculous performance, could well cause you to walk out of the cinema.
It’s also absolutely enthralling.
As soon as you start to get a feel for the rhythm of the piece, the dialogue scenes start to lengthen and the feeling of this being a story, rather than a greatest hits montage, starts to set in. Suddenly, we feel like we’ve lived with this character his whole life, and then we get the real tale Baz is here to tell. It’s a surprisingly effective method, albeit highly unusual.
The absurdity of the edit also has the fantastic benefit of making this seem like no other biopic you’ve ever seen. Gone is the typical selection of 10-12 classic songs from the artist, and some ‘that’ll do’ dialogue strewn throughout to make the runtime. Here, the music comes naturally. It’s story first, performance second, and despite the fact that we get really the full gamut of classic Elvis tunes, it never feels like the film is slowing down to accommodate them.
Austin Butler is utterly, truly convincing as the King. His accent is downpat, his moves and musicality are pitch perfect, and the mannerisms are like looking at old footage of the man himself. It’s tough to overemphasize how incredibly convincing his performance is. It’s a star-making turn for the young actor, and his work holds the movie together throughout its more out there moments, and through its stumbles.
The same can’t really be said for the rest of the cast. The majority of the other actors do serviceably well, making what little impact they can in Elvis’ mighty shadow. Tom Hanks goes all out with his evil performance as Colonel Tom Parker, but with the added fat suit, it feels too much like a caricature of a cartoon bad guy to be effective.
Elvis is not going to be a film for everybody. It’s too showy, too rapid, and often too muddled. It’s also too long. But Butler is Elvis. His performance is unbeatable, and worth the price of admission alone. Much like The Great Gatsby before it, the movie grows on you after you leave the cinema, its memory more potent than the film itself ever could be. It’s sort of like being driven around a racetrack by a rally car driver in the fastest car ever built; while you’re in it, you can’t do anything but grit your teeth and hold on for dear life. Once you’re out of it, however, it’s an experience that will stay with you for the rest of your mortal days.
