The Elton John biopic “Rocketman” is part “Across the Universe” and part “Bohemian Rhapsody” without fully leaning into the tenor of either. It’s unfortunate how much the film underdelivers both in scale and scope given how much larger than life Elton John is as a musician, performer, and philanthropist.
“Rocketman” is a fictional biopic of musical icon Reginald Dwight, aka Elton John (played by Taron Egerdon). The film traces Elton’s life from his youth through his departure from rehab in the late 1970s. Director Dexter Fletcher uses rehab as a storytelling device wherein Elton tells his life story during a group therapy session.
This story mechanic might have made for an interesting picture had “Rocketman” embraced its desire to be out of this world. Instead, what we get is an underperforming hybrid of the magical and brutally serious reality of addiction, which is not to say that the film couldn’t have done both and maintained the tone. In fact, the film demonstrates this when Elton overdoses on pills and, while submerged in a swimming pool, harmonizes with a younger version of himself. His medical treatment is done via an excellently interesting dance number as he is whisked through the hospital and onto the stage at Dodger Stadium.
However, other scenes miss this mark entirely. Many scenes are almost cookie-cutter copies of one another across a dining room table with Elton humming a little tune. Every scene with his father (Steven Mackintosh) and mother (Bryce Dallas Howard), save for the first and second musical performances, are played too straight and present hollowed-out versions of people that give what can only be described as terribly wooden performances.
Some scenes in the middle of the movie lack creativity entirely. During a song meant to depict Elton’s sex addiction, the film overlays a cinematically interesting rendering with a peculiar 1980s music videoesque ghostly image of his family appearing to tell him he’s unloved. Another scene just has the audience lift off the floor in a moment signaling Elton’s emergence as a rock star. The audience rises a foot off the floor to what should have logically been “Rocketman,” but for some reason it was “Crocodile Rock.” Then they return to the ground. That’s it, a little hover. Lots of scenes come across as cheap and half-baked.
Lastly, the treatment of addiction, love, and the characters is all misaligned. I suppose the takeaway of the movie is if your parents are cold and don’t exhibit affection and you become supremely famous, then perhaps you will develop an addiction problem, be unable to find love, and live an unhappy life where nothing fulfills you — unless you are able to love yourself. It’s a bizarre message, but obvious on its face as the older Elton John and younger Elton John embrace, as if to say he refused to love himself and therefore sought meaning in alcohol, shopping, cocaine, and sex. It’s a naïve and elementary treatment of addiction that resonates bizarrely in a film that had good bones.
When “Rocketman” takes flight and embraces the creativity and gregarious persona of Elton John, it soars. But many beats of the movie are frankly out of tune.
Tyler Grant (@TyGregoryGrant) is a Young Voices contributor, who completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Taiwan. He writes movie reviews for the Washington Examiner.
