ELVIS: My review

People of different ages have very different opinions of Elvis Presley.  He’s been gone for like 45 years now — that’s a long time out of the public eye.  If you’re a boomer you lived through the phenomenon that was the King of Rock n’ Roll.  Gen X might better remember the old fat Vegas Elvis who became a caricature of himself, younger still might think of him as a joke who had many impersonators.  And I’m sure lots of twenty somethings  don’t even know who he is.  Or, at best, just some old geezer my grandparents liked.  

If you’re not that familiar with E (as his band, his bodyguards, and I called him), it’s hard to explain.  You see girls in vintage clothes going crazy over a performer and you go “huh?”  The beauty of the new Buz Luhrmann movie, ELVIS is that he really captures just what made Elvis Presley so extraordinary.  I foresee anyone watching this movie under 40 going “Okay, I get it now.” 

Granted, it’s hard to convey that sense of performing genius and its affect on people.  And to me, that’s what makes ELVIS so special.   And also why Austin Butler was so amazing as Elvis.  The moves, the charisma — he really delivered.   He’ll be going to the Oscars.  There have been countless Elvis movies and TV series and for my money, none of the other Hollywood “impersonators” could wear this young actor’s cape.

Along the way, you also see Elvis’ influences, his private side, and his evolution.  Since it’s Buz Luhrmann, the screen is constantly filled with a kaleidoscope of dazzling images and colors better suited for the big screen than your phone.  And you get Tom Hanks, as Colonel Tom Parker.  It’s fun to see him in a sleazy role (besides his most famous role —  that of Lawrence Bourne III in the iconic classic VOLUNTEERS).  The key relationship in the film is the Presley-Parker partnership.  Elvis certainly signed a Faustian contract.  The fame and fortune came at an enormous price and ultimately a tragic end.   It’s hard to fathom when you see the young vibrant Elvis of the comeback TV special of 1968 that less than ten years later he would be dead.   But such is the lore of this larger-than-life modern-day Icarus.  

Go see ELVIS.   How odd that it’s better to see a movie about Elvis than a movie starring Elvis. 


from By Ken Levine