Let's be real here. This isn't a good film. And it's flawed from the get-go.

The casting. Dreadful. Hanks is a creation from Batman Returns. Priscilla has none of her beauty. And the most fundamentally unforgiveable issue - Elvis doesn't look like Elvis. Who signed off on an actor to carry this film where the eyes nose and mouth are absolutely incorrect?

The editing. Horrendous and overdone. There is barely a moments peace from the onslaught. However, for this catastrophe of cinematography to only cost 85 million USD is a triumph.

The pov aspect. Why in the hell would you base this around the ridiculous story of Colonel Tom Parker only to then leave out half of the facts? And it's not short on time at 2hr 30.

And finally, the pacing. When Elvis is washed up prior to the 68 Comeback special we haven't been fed enough of him at his peak for the rise and fall to make sense. When he passes, the bloatedness isn't shown and then arrives unexplained but for a single line of voice over. Periods that needed to be shown are glossed over and periods of relative unnecessity are dragged out.

But the real crime is the music. I counted 2 uninterrupted performances. The rest were manic collages or mixed in with - wait for it - modern hip hop... What egotistical mind decided that was a good idea...?

I watched. Now I'll hope to forget. And for anyone who wants an actual representation of Elvis from an actor who actually looks like him and tells the actual story, look for the Jonathan Rhys Meyers TV miniseries biopic.

To paraphrase a Bill Burr routine... Elvis was the first to be a major superstar. He made all the mistakes because he had nobody who had led the way.

Why is that not spelled out?

The 'theft' of black music. The 'child' marriage... I get that 2022 eyes see the world differently but a film like this shouldn't pander to the modern trend for rewriting history. It should provide perspective.

If Elvis hadn't grown up surrounded by black culture and organically witnessed that music, he'd be Pat Boone. But he wasn't. He was a true child of the musical influences. If he hadn't had his career, then it might have been another 20 years before black music found white ears... And it wouldn't have been a black artist who brought it. That's the sad truth. There needs to be a conduit and Elvis was that.

To labour this point... Tom Hanks being cast as a gay man afflicted with HIV (Philadelphia) opened the door to films of that nature being mainstream. Nowadays a gay man must be cast in that role. But you don't get to where we are without Tom Hanks being the conduit. That seems to be lost on people these days.

Progress is a series of incremental steps.

And look at the Priscilla marriage. The age of consent and the times and the location were all a world away. Don't be outraged at this, be outraged at Jerry Lee Lewis or Chuck Berry.

How sad the film was so overwhelmed by its desire to create ridiculous camerawork that it failed to deliver any of the impact of the first major superstar.

5/10

If anything, this biopic didn’t fall into the trap of being just a wikipedia summary of the artist’s career. Unlike _Bohemian Rhapsody_, there actually is a focus with this film, which makes it a more compelling story. They probably should’ve gone a little more in depth about how the dude was a pedophile, as it’s hinted at and tossed aside very quickly, but I get that you can’t include everything (and the movie is already way too long as it stands). Still, it does make it feel a little sanitized. The focus stays on Elvis and his manager, which are two well written characters. Austin Butler’s performance is great and easily the best thing about it. Tom Hanks, on the other hand, gives one of his worst performances to date. It's a little too over the top and I don’t know what he was attempting with the accent, as I believe this character was Dutch in real life, but Hanks certainly doesn’t sound like that. Ultimately where it falls apart for me though is with the directing and production choices. The editing’s trying very hard to amp up the glossy, Las Vegas feel of the movie, but it comes across as annoying and kitschy. Lots of rapid fire editing as well, it all got a bit exhausting and excessive after a while. Then there’s the music, which got a good laugh out of me. I don’t think I’ll offend anyone by saying that Elvis is primarily a boomer icon, and that they’re intended to be the primary audience for this. Yet, they decided to put artists like Doja Cat and Denzel Curry on the soundtrack. It’s hilariously misjudged and such an obvious attempt to pander to younger audiences. It's like a WB executive gave a note to Baz Luhrmann telling him that the movie needs four quadrant appeal, but since that's unlikely to happen with a movie about Elvis Presley, it feels a bit pathetic and desperate. So, all in all another pretty mediocre musical biopic, about as good as the other ones that have been coming out over the past few years.

5/10

_Elvis_ is exactly what I expected going into this and I still found myself having a great time with this film. It is so incredible seeing the highs and lows of an artist's career and being there for the ride is such an intimate experience, even if the actual story is probably butchered to death to fit in a feature length film. But a biopic is only as great as the leading actor carrying this film and I glad to report that Austin Butler absolutely nailed this role. Fantastic through and through. My one big complaint about this film is the runtime. Almost three hours feels entirely unnecessary, but with it being on HBO Max, it is way more digestible in two chunks.

**Score:** _74%_ |
**Verdict:** _Good_

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"Elvis features a glorious, electrifying, iconic performance from Austin Butler that will deservedly guarantee him all the awards of the year.

Unfortunately, the actor isn't enough to overcome the many technical issues, besides Tom Hanks' massive miscast and the formulaic musical biopic narrative. Baz Luhrmann's style theoretically fits the legendary singer's vibrant aura, and the filmmaker's intention is clear.

Nevertheless, the frenetic, choppy editing and the restless camera movements rather come off as a messy, confusing, headache-inducing atmosphere instead of elements that elevate the overall piece. The unnecessarily hefty doesn't help.

I was hoping to be surprised, but then again, I'm admittedly not the biggest Elvis/Luhrmann fan."

Rating: C+

**amazing, beautiful and shocking movie**

I didn't expect that I would like the movie in this way because I have no interest in the singer Elvis Bresley because I have never heard his songs. All I know is that he is a rock and roll legend. I had no interest or any attachment to this character, but the movie made me admire his true personality.

That was so magical with all the beauty of the story and it really hurt my heart. Biographical films about rock stars have something traditional. You see at the beginning of the movies as the hero of the true story he was humble and then you see his rise to the top and his attachment to drugs and his love for women until the end. This movie has this characteristic as well, but the film's direction by Baz Luhrmann was frankly excellent as it had a rhythm The film is fast-paced. It is difficult to take a break between the movie because the rhythm of the film was fast.

Everything was fast until I realized that the story of Elvis could be turned into a series with several episodes, 7 or 8, but when the story was turned into a movie, the events of his life story were transformed into an incredibly fast frame. My eyes were inside the movie as a zoom frame mode following the movie from the first scene to the last scene curiously. The colors were amazing, it was something shiny.