Rocketman

It's interesting on many levels that Dexter Fletcher, who did mop-up duty on Bohemian Rhapsody after Bryan Singer was fired, should get the opportunity to direct Rocketman, which will be compared to Bohemian Rhapsody in many ways. It is, after all, about a gay, flamboyant, 1970s rock star. The difference is, Bohemian Rhapsody wasn't that good, while Rocketman, while not a classic by any means, is a much better film.

Elton John has been trying to get his life story told for nearly twenty years, and it finally came together with Taron Egerton playing him (and doing his own singing). While in some ways this is a standard, Behind the Music rock story, Fletcher makes it more intriguing by adding a fantasy element. At some times it is a musical, with John's songs serving the story, far out of their correct chronological context (the opening number has a five-year-old John, then known as Reggie Dwight, singing "The Bitch is Back"). I suspect that even now there are meetings aiming to adapt this film into a Broadway show.

John's life is the typical rock tale of excess, with the homosexuality thrown in for an added bit of drama. He grew up a prodigy, but had two uncaring parents (his grandmother was the one who pushed him--he thanked her when he won his Oscar for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"). We see poor Reggie endure the indifference of his horrible parents while he discovered rock and roll, playing classical music while sporting an Elvis pompadour. In his teens he formed a band called Bluesology, and was fatefully introduced to Bernie Taupin by complete accident.

The sequences with Taupin, played solidly by Jamie Bell, are terrific, and one can't help but feeling the giddiness of their creative process vicariously. It is a shame that Taupin, who wrote the lyrics, isn't given more time to understand where those lyrics came from (only one song gets that treatment, "Tiny Dancer," and it doesn't even show the woman that Taupin really wrote the song about).

In fact, Rocketman doesn't bother much with historical accuracy. For example, when John played the Troubadour in 1970, his first American gig, it shows him leading off with "Crocodile Rock," a song that wouldn't be released until two years later. He did not take his surname from John Lennon, but from Long John Baldry, a singer that Bluesology backed. Once I got the idea that chronology was not important, I took a deep breath and let it go.

The story is told in flashback, as John speaks to an AA meeting while wearing a devil costume. He tells of is rags to riches story, how he got hooked on drugs and alcohol, and how his vain manager, John Reid (Richard Madden) became his lover and then turned on him. Reid was also the manager of Queen, and a character in Bohemian Rhapsody, and he doesn't come off well in either film, but is a downright cad in Rocketman.

John battles his demons while becoming the biggest music star in the world--he had seven straight number one albums--known for his elaborate costumes (we do see the Elizabeth I costume, but sadly not his turn as Donald Duck). He is a showman, but is like the clown who cries inside.

Certainly the film wallows in cliches, but Fletcher and screenwriter Lee Hall do their best to avoid them. In a scene near the end, where John confronts those who have done him wrong, it's a lovely bit of movie magic, especially when he tells his parents that the only thing to do now is forgive each other.

Most of the big hits are here, sometimes sung in a concert setting, or sometimes as big musical numbers (I found it interesting that one of the bigger numbers was not a John song at all, but The Who's "Pinball Wizard"). It has me wanting to check out some of his early albums, as I only go back to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.