Elvis the movie directed by famous Australian director Baz Luhrman is a biopic about the life of this artist portrayed through the eyes of Colonel Tom Parker who poses as the manager of Elvis but is all out to deceive him.
The film focuses on the love / hate relationship that develops between these two strong personalities and sidelines the other monumental incidents that affect the life of this star. Considering the movie is 20 minutes short of 3 hours, focusing on the relationship of these men is certainly not desirable as people watch biopics to understand the complete life of a person. Nevertheless, the movie does well in depicting how the king influences modern pop culture. The main roles are portrayed by Austin Butler who plays the fearless role of Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks who plays the role of the conniving Colonel Tom Parker.
The Colonel discovers Elvis in the Louisiana Hay Carnival where he is performing. The young man’s energy and ability to connect with the female target audience through his gyrating hip movements stuns him momentarily and realizes that this budding artist is his ticket to financial freedom being an illegal immigrant who moves to the States during World War II. He entices Elvis into a contractual agreement with him where he promises him national fame and popularity by sending him on tours all over the States, much to his mother’s misery.
The young artist catches the government’s attention who find his movements unsuitable for family crowds. The army threatens the Colonel that they will expose his identity and deport him to Europe if he does not cooperate. Therefore, the Colonel is forced to stop Elvis from doing what he does best. Elvis retaliates by refusing to behave at a concert in Memphis which is sponsored by the army and insults the army chief by jiggling his little finger and staring in his direction. Quite an iconic move which sets the tone for the 2nd part of the movie. The result of this is Elvis being carted off for conscription in Germany for 2 years. This was an act which killed his mother who Elvis was extremely close to. The funeral scenes shot where the Colonel encourages Elvis to withdraw from his shell and be with his father and family is especially heartwarming. My only wish was that the movie had more scenes depicting the bond between mother and son.
The life of Elvis changed after his mother departed as he found a new anchor in the form of his wife. Elvis met Priscilla when he was serving in the army. They got married soon after he finished conscription and he decided to enter Hollywood and start his movie career. He does this to become a more family-oriented person. The times the couple spend in solitude is hardly reflected in the movie. Most of the scenes involving his wife are mostly spent involving his daughter. There is a highly reflective scene where Elvis walks out of his bedroom, high on drugs and Priscilla is walking out on her husband.
Elvis’ influence on the hippie world is decently portrayed where he requests for advice when he wishes to re-enter the music world after spending a significant amount of time in movies with roles which did not leave a memorable impression.
He is rightfully encouraged to revert to what he does best in the upcoming era of television. What follows is a big tug of war between the Colonel and himself in the pursuit of happiness where the Colonel wants him mixed up in the production of Christmas carols while Elvis would rather sing Rock n Roll. The scenes involving the Colonel stopping Elvis from traveling overseas due to security issues are well depicted. On the flip side the literal truth of hiding his fugitive status and lacking a passport is not well portrayed and is covered up like a careless whisper.
The ultimate focus is on the Las Vegas concerts spanning the final 6 years of Elvis’ life where is a deal is signed between the Colonel and the hotel owner with a secret non – performance clause which will rid Elvis of all his debts. This clause is rather confusing as hardly any light is shed on how those debts were collected over the last 20 – 25 years. The suspense is held back literally until the end of the movie when Elvis sacks the Colonel and thereafter realizes from his taciturn father that they are bankrupt.
Overall, I would rate this movie 7/10 despite having several spoilers it still retains the audience’s attention. Austin Buter deserves an Oscar for pulling off a role which gives the king a superb modern day emulation.
Nice movie
Thank you so much!