Film Review: "Elvis"

Director Baz Luhrmann is arguably one of the most unique voices in Hollywood today.  From his work in films like “Moulin Rouge!,” “Australia,” and “The Great Gatsby,” he’s a filmmaker who specializes in stylized stories. When it was announced he was handling the biography of Elvis Presley, it left folks scratching their heads. Especially when it was announced the film was a biography of his entire life. It’s the story of his whole life told over a two-hour and thirty-nine-minute running time. If you don’t know Luhrmann and his over-the-top style, you might want to avoid “Elvis” altogether. Your enjoyment of “Elvis” depends on if you’re willing to go on this stylized journey. 

The lead performance from Austin Butler is a welcome guide through the cerebral journey. It’s the sort of leading turn where you completely forget you’re watching an actor and, instead, actually watching Elvis. From the first scene, Butler encompasses the character's essence without making him feel like a caricature. He’s tasked with tackling two very distinct sides of this massive persona. Butler balances both of these sides, the young rising star to the seasoned musician, with graceful ease. It’s within the film's second half that Butler delivers one of the year's finest performances. Especially when he has to deal with Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker as his conniving agent. 

Hanks’s performance is so broad that it’s going to draw a massively divisive opinion. He’s chewing the scenery but clearly understands just how evil Colonel Parker was as a person. Seeing his villainy torment Elvis allows Butler to show us the man behind the myth. Seeing Hanks twist any scenario Elvis is in, lets Butler deliver a world-weariness that feels sincere. It’s a perfect emotional roller-coaster that gives a thorough examination of his career from start to finish. This is the sort of performance that will cause serious talks of an Oscar nomination, and it's well-deserving.  The problem is just how long the story is and its heavily stylized approach to his life.

Luhrmann delivers flash visuals including comic-book sequences, hallucinatory dream sequences, and flashy musical numbers. The story is key to highlighting Elvis’s obsession with superhero stories when he was a kid. Which explains why Luhrmann focuses on the more fantastical elements of the story. When the focus is more on the story’s flash between the outfits and musical numbers, it’s all style. The biography of his life is told in such a straightforward fashion that an argument will be made about its being all “style over substance.” If you’re looking for something more substantive, you’ll be disappointed. This will also make audiences miss the bigger picture of the story. Instead of just showing us the life of Elvis, Luhrmann wants to celebrate this icon, warts and all.

If you’re willing to go along with that stylistic approach, there’s a lot to enjoy here. Luhrmann wants to deliver a biography that’s a sensory experience from Scene One. It doesn’t follow the conventions of the standard biopic. As stylized as it is, the story is a rather straightforward telling of Elvis’s life. Going through the beats with its stylized approach became slightly repetitive. That feeling can be a lot to bear over an almost three-hour-long jam-packed running time. This is what made Austin Butler’s performance all that more powerful and engaging as I watched. It’s a sensational performance with the goal of simply celebrating the legacy of this icon. To try and capture that iconic persona, there are lots of creative narrative choices thrown against the wall. They don’t always stick, but the journey is one that has to be seen to be believed.