Elvis (2022)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio across regional Victoria on July 7, 2022.

(M) ★★★

Director: Baz Luhrmann.

Cast: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison Jr., David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Luke Bracey.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here's a little song called Spinal Meningitis Got Me Down."

Baz Luhrmann certainly has a style, and his visual flamboyance and love of a red curtain spectacle would appear to put him in good stead for this attempt at being the definitive Elvis biopic. 

But Baz is his own worst enemy. For every moment of welcome flair in this lengthy drama, there are half a dozen of style-over-substance. The film's first hour is packed with so many unnecessary camera moves, cuts, edits, and crossfades, that it's like being on an out-of-control carnival ride. It's like an explosion at both the bell and neighbouring whistle factories.

It's only in the second half, when Luhrmann calms down, that the film truly engages, and Butler's stunning performance is able to shine through and become more than just a caricature.

Told partially from the point of view of Elvis' manager Colonel Tom Parker (Hanks), the film hits every big checkpoint in the Elvis wikipedia page - his early breakthrough with It's Alright, Mama, his controversial early TV and stage performances, joining the army, marrying Priscilla, his Hollywood stint, the comeback special, and through into the Vegas years and his untimely death, aged 42.

Elvis, its directorial tics aside, is a solid potted history of its subject. Diehard Elvis fans may be disappointed, and if you're looking for a deep dive into what made The King tick, this ain't it, but the film is at least a board overview of his world-changing career.

In a tough role, Butler excels. He captures the stage mannerisms and vocal particulars perfectly, but really flies in the latter half of the film as the troubles settle in. Butler makes Presley human, even as the shopping list of plot points whirls past in a blur of camera tricks and pointless editing stunts.

Equally impressive is Hanks as Parker. Hanks, in one of his few villainous roles, brings layers and complexity to a character that, like Presley, could have ended up being a caricature. In a film where so many characters are mere ciphers, the glue of Presley and Parker - of Butler and Hanks - holds proceedings together.

But for every clever line, such as Parker's manipulations, there is a naff one, usually involving Presley's family or to describe what Presley thinks and feels instead of showing us. For every awesome musical moment (and there are many) there is a saccharine score to beat you over the head, practically yelling at you to feel a particular way. For stunning moment of production design to recapture the era, there's a directorial move with the camera or in the editing suite or in the special FX department that is present for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Luhrmann's kookiness and over-egging style as a director can have its moments, but his latest film is laden with the same problems that beset his previous one, The Great Gatsby. The movie works best when Luhrmann stops showing off, and gets out of the way of the story and the actors. The constant distractions of direction suck the emotion out of the film, bloat its storytelling, and quickly infuriate.

It's only the work of Butler and Hanks, and a mid-film chill pill for Luhrmann that make Elvis a decent overview of one of modern history's most important figures. Luhrmann's stylistic tics mean the film avoids some tropes of the music biopic genre, and there is an admirable boldness to his approach, but the definitive word on the King of Rock 'n' Roll is yet to be filmed.