6/24/22 – PG-13 – 2h 31m – Warner Bros

Alan: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
Michelle: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✩

Elvis is a biopic of  Elvis Presley tracing Elvis’s path from growing up in poverty in Tennessee to his professional success as the King of Rock and Roll.

Michelle: Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge is one of my favorite films and I love music biopics. I’ve been an Elvis fan since I visited Graceland, so I was really looking forward to seeing Elvis. The preview was amazing; full of music and color in the Baz Luhrmann style. 

The movie started in that style, with each shot in colors that convey a mood and with music incorporated into the scenes. But, somewhere in the middle, the movie stopped the artistic style and seemed to get busy only with the business of churning out facts of the story in a more standard way, including some cheesy montages of photographs of performances fuzzily blending into the next still shot. The transition between each image spent the same amount of time in the out of focus blur than on each image. I don’t know if this was to show the monotony of many, many shows and performances blending into one long slog that blends into a fuzzy blur. 

Alan: I saw the initial artistic style as being like a comic book. There was a theme of Elvis idolizing DC’s (then Fawcett Comics) Captain Marvel Jr (known to many as Shazam). While Elvis dreamed of being a musical superhero, the movie told his story in comic book style. But once he achieved his success, reality came beating down hard. I think the change in styles really helped to create the right feel for different parts of Elvis’s career.

Michelle: The acting was very good overall. But, why put so much prosthetic flab on Tom Hanks’s face that he looks like an LA-face botoxed zombie with no expression. It’s not like he’s playing a character who is supposed to have had some surgery to disguise his identity. If Colonel Tom Parker is supposed to be flabby faced and fat, give the role to a naturally flabby faced fat actor. The make-up didn’t allow Hanks to act and made his Colonel Tom seem wooden. But, maybe he’s supposed to be a carnie con-man in clown makeup?

And, it’s unfortunate the Priscilla role didn’t go to a co-star like Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea. The acting when Priscilla leaves Elvis could have been like what Michelle Williams did in her monologue in Manchester by the Sea. Priscilla Pressley was preternaturally beautiful and so, so young. If they weren’t going to cast a great actor, they could’ve cast a beautiful 16 year old in the role.

Alan: I had trouble recognizing Tom Hanks in his role. That is probably a good thing. Much of the story is narrated in voice-over by Colonel Tom Parker — mostly justifying his treatment of Elvis. Then we saw what “really” happened — which usually involved some sort of shadiness or manipulation on Tom’s part. It was an interesting juxtaposition that made the movie more enjoyable for me.

Michelle: I wish that the costumes and make-up were more stylized and dramatic. It would have been fun to see some fabulous 1960s Hollywood makeup and clothes such as long spider eyelashes on the bottom as well as top lashes.

Alan: Elvis bought a lot of his suits from a store in Harlem — the same store that B.B. King shopped from. I wasn’t really aware of Elvis’s deep connection to Black culture. I’d heard that he ripped off Black artists — and the movie made that clear at times — but I didn’t know he had grown up in a Black neighborhood playing with Black children and attending Black gospel revival tents.

Michelle: The music was great since they had good source material. Then, they added a few new songs and remixes. The song at the end credits actually sung by Elvis Presley reminds us why he was the King.

Alan: They had several scenes with modern remixes of his songs. Those were interesting additions and I enjoyed them.

Michelle: Though Hanks’s wooden face and annoying accent distracted me enough to pull me out of the suspension of disbelief needed to enjoy a film, the story was entertaining and the music was wonderful. I expected this to be a five plus star movie, but I have to give it four stars.

Alan: I enjoyed the movie but I thought it was a little too long. I was ready for it to be over. I give it four stars too.