The movie came at an incredibly important time in my life. Last year I lost my mum to Covid and it’s been an emotional rollercoaster ever since. My dad has just about about coped but it’s been tough. I come from a household that seemed to live and breathe Elvis in so many ways including having Elvis as my middle name. When mum passed we played a number of songs at the funeral and we also celebrated dads 80th birthday without her but managed to bring some happiness back to him, and us, with a brilliant rock and roll singer who, while not an Elvis impersonator, sang brilliantly like Elvis. He captured the essence of Elvis as does Austin Butler here.
So you get the context. A week after his 80th I took him to see the movie. At first I feared he may not get through it as it was so loud and the relentless pace seemed too much. However when we did get our breath back, the spectacle was clear. The biggest approval from my perspective from us was that we both cried in the closing credits. Not just as it evoked so many memories of what Elvis meant to mum and dad but the shear emotional ride that was so well depicted in this movie that was the life of the one and only Elvis Presley.
On its iTunes release I bought it right away. Yes I paid £19.99 but it did not bother me as I come from a world long ago when we bought expensive DVDs and before that VHS. So this was not an issue for something that I felt was so special.
I then showed the movie to my wife and sons. All are not fans at all of Elvis and know very little about him. I had to almost drag my youngest to the front room to watch it. At the end they told me how much they loved the movie and actually enjoyed most of the soundtrack. It also opened lots of discussions, not just about the life of Elvis but race, exploitation of people, drug abuse and all kinds of other topics.
Away from all the emotional context I have described, for me the movie is just amazing. The direction, the acting (everyone but especially Austin Butler-incredible), the soundtrack, the cinematography; basically everything. The is a movie for all. The drama is incredible as is the story. You just need to acknowledge it’s not a drama documentary but a representation of a fictional vivid drug enduced dream/nightmare of an exploitative con man. Suspend pre conceived ideas and you’ll love it.