Rocketman
Directed by Dexter Fletcher
Produced by Adam Bohling, David Furnish, David Reid and Matthew Vaughn
Written by Lee Hall
Cast:
Taron Egerton as Elton John
Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin
Richard Madden as John Reid
Gemma Jones as Ivy, Elton’s grandmother
Bryce Dallas Howard as Sheila Dwight
Stephen Graham as Dick James
Steven Mackintosh as Stanley Dwight
Tate Donovan as Doug Weston
Charlie Rowe as Ray Williams
Tom Bennett as Fred, Sheila’s boyfriend
In addition, Matthew Illesley and Kit Connor play the child and adolescent versions of Reggie Dwight.
Music by Matthew Margeson
Poor old Reggie. Lived in sooty old London in the 1950s, pidgeons and chippies, tiddlywinks on the telly, Empire in decline, footie and fogs, military duffers with stiff upper lips. I could relate, but I didn’t have a piano in the sitting room. Who knows? Maybe I was slated to be the next Elton John, but me da’ wanted a billiards table. So the world had to settle for Reggie instead.
Well, maybe not. There was a bit more to Elton John than just the ability to play mad piano. As pretty much everyone knows, since the only bigger musical act to come out of the UK, before or since, was the Beatles.
Rocketman is both engaging and delightful, a deep look at a very complicated and talented man. It took three actors to portray Elton (Illesley, Connor and Egerton) and all three did outstanding jobs portraying different lives and stages in the life of Elton. Egerton in particular stands out, since he actually sings all of the songs in the movie (at a couple of points, bits of the originals are mixed in, but it takes a really sharp ear to catch it) and Elton himself described Egerton’s covers: “I don’t think I’ve heard anyone sing my songs better than Taron.”
Fletcher also had a role in completing Bohemian Rhapsody, another biopic about a flamboyant English rock god. He’s got the right touch, artfully mixing hope and despair, joie de vivre with tragedy.
Jamie Bell turns in a solid performance as Bernie Taupin, and if you don’t know who Taupin was, then you really don’t know much about Elton John. John Reid, played by Robb Stark (OK, Richard Madden) is also a strong presence in the movie. Gemma Jones plays Reggie’s loving and supportive grandmother, which I found odd since my previous exposure to this gifted English thespian was as an utterly horrid and loathsome character in Last Tango in Halifax. She also had supporting roles in several of the Harry Potter movies.
One element of Elton John’s life missing from the movie was his relationship with Princess Diana. Close friends, his performance of a customized version of “Candle in the Wind” at her funeral was perhaps the incandescent peak to one of the most vivid and remarkable careers in music and entertainment.
All in all, an excellent movie.